Album Review: Street Dogs “Stand for Something or Die for Nothing”
Review by Erik Ghint
Record reviews are the collective response of the author’s objective opinion and taste on music in general, combined, however, with some undisputed facts. Punk rock veterans Street Dogs will release their sixth LP, Stand for Something or Die for Nothing, through Century Media on June 22nd of 2018.
TRACK LIST
Stand for Something or Die for Nothing
Other Ones
The Comeback Zone
Angels Calling (feat. Slaine)
These Ain’t the Old Days
Working Class Heroes
Lest We Regret
The Round Up
Mary on Believer Street
Never Above You, Never Below You
Torn and Frayed
I had to catch up on my Street Dogs discography information prior to reviewing their latest addition Stand for Something or Die for Nothing. I almost can’t believe it has been close to eight years since the release of the band’s self titled record and my personal favorite of their catalog. That record was everything a modern street punk rock record should sound like to my ears and had heavy rotation on my playlist for a longer while. To top that, I actually watched Street Dogs play live, which was highly memorable for a person living at the far end of what you would consider a respectable international punk scene. In that sense, I was thrilled to hear that a new Street Dogs record was coming out after so long and was anxious to see what I was getting.
While Street Dogs have had various lineup changes and – now – a significant time in between records, their approach to making music is practically unaltered. Mike McColgan is the driving force of the band in all aspects, his anthemic voice being one of the most recognizable voices in this genre along with his politically fueled persona coming out significantly through his lyrics. Street Dogs have always been melodic and angry to some extent but you could never fit them into the Californian punk rock wave that overtook everything in the 90’s. They were a Boston Massachusetts east coast type of punk band and – to an extent – not a lot has changed in their sound on Stand for Something or Die for Nothing in the year 2018.
Stand for Something or Die for Nothing picks up exactly where the band left off so many years earlier with their self titled record. The opening title track is a classic catchy Street Dogs punk rock sing along and a perfect introduction to this LP. More than half of the songs follow down this path; Other Ones, Working Class Hero, Lest We Forget, The Round Up, Never Above You Never Below You and my personal favorite The Comeback Zone are songs that you expect as a Street Dogs fan and you will not be disappointed one little bit.
The band shifts to a more rock and roll/Social Distortion – like style for most of the rest of the songs on the record and mostly doing a great job with Angels Calling, These Ain’t the Old Days. Mary on Believer Street and Torn and Frayed both have a more hard rock – Americana/punk vibe to them, for the most part of which I haven’t gone crazy about. Remember when Social Distortion made landmark punk rock records and then released Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes? Well, on a rather smaller scale I got this feeling after going through Stand for Something or Die for Nothing a number of times. I like the diversity and variety of the new LP, but still would have wished for a little more emphasis on the punk rock side for which Street Dogs are known for.
You can almost not beat the work being done at the notorious Blasting Room and the self titled record of 2010 set a very high standard. From a production point of view – handled by the bands own Johnny Rioux – things are still very solid. The artwork is also something that you would expect from a Street Dogs record; good, not special.
To sum things up, Stand for Something or Die for Nothing is a great comeback record for Street Dogs. Less would be more for me in the case of the mentioned Americana/punk batch of songs but in essence and for the most part this record is a winner in my book.
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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