The Sheds “I’ll Be Fine” Album Review
The Sheds
I’ll Be Fine
The Sheds are an up and coming skate punk band for Agoura Hills, CA. They just released I’ll Be Fine on Mediaskare records on July 23rd. The band recently completed a full, coast to coast, U.S. tour as well as a two week stint on the Vans Warped Tour.
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Track List
1. “I’ll Be Fine”
2. “Everything I Love”
3. “The Rock and the Wring”
4. “Writer’s Block”
5. “Almost Famous”
6. “Bad Things are Bad”
7. “Wrathbone”
8. “Ignorance is Bliss”
9. “Tunnel Vision”
10. “You’ll Be Fine”
I didn’t know anything about the Sheds going into this other than I had heard the name and knew they were a thing. Before I listened to the album, I checked out their Facebook page. They list the first two “Tony Hawk Pro Skater” soundtracks as one of their influences so I had high hopes for this record. In short, they delivered. If you want more specifics as to how they delivered, read on bud.
This album sounds like Propagandhi’s How To Clean Everything had a baby with the entire Strung Out discography, and Joey Cape taught that baby how to sing. The album kicks off with the thrashy, yet melodic, title track. While only a minute and change long, it is a good indicator of what to expect for the rest of the album, mostly fast parts with a slow part in the middle. The Sheds play around with a lot of tempo changes and contrasting slow/fast parts, similar to early Propagandhi. The second track, “Everything I Love” has a catchy chorus and ska-ish parts mixed in throughout the song. “The Wrong and the Wring” is similar to the previous track, however, the lyrics to both songs are a bit whiny, which is something that I’m a little bored of to be honest. But other than that, the album is off to a good start.
I am an English school dropout (I know…impressive huh), and I have always been told to never write about writer’s block to break writer’s block. The Sheds said “fuck that” and did it anyway and it actually worked. “Writer’s Block” is one of my favorite songs on this album. It’s pretty catchy, and they lyrics are pretty cool as well. Things slow down a little bit with “Almost Famous” which is a slower song with a really heavy bass line, which I like. The song is an attack on Hollywood quasi-celebrity culture, which while I don’t have a lot of personal experience with, I’m going to go ahead and make the safe assumption that it sucks ass, just like the lyrics of “Almost Famous” say.
The catchiest song on the album is “Bad Things are Bad”. It’s a got a good sing-along chorus as well as a hardcore breakdown featuring guest vocals from Chadwick Johnson from label-mates Hundredth. I did not see that coming and it is pretty cool when it happens (sorry for the spoiler). There is another such part with a different guest vocalist from a different hardcore band (I couldn’t tell who it was) on “Wrathbone” but I definitely don’t thing that “Wrathbone” is as good as “Bad Things are Bad”.
The Sheds take a decidedly pro- equality stance on “Ignorance is Bliss”. It is cool to see a newer band take on the subject so directly, because I don’t think this is done as much as it should be in music today. The chorus is something that many of us punk kids running on socio-political angst can definitely level with. This song is fucking rad and should be played to as many people as possible. “Ignorance is Bliss” is my favorite song on the album, for sure.
The album comes to an end with “Tunnel Vision” and “You’ll Be Fine”. The riff on “Tunnel Vision” is pretty sick and other than that, it stays true to the general sound that you find throughout I’ll Be Fine. The last song on the album is the sad and slow, “You’ll Be Fine”. It is obviously written for an extremely bummed out person. It’s not the best song as the album, but as far as sad, slow songs, it’s a pretty good one.
Overall, this is a pretty good album. Some of the songs are just okay, while others are really solid. I’d say that if you like Fat Wreck Chords bands you might like this band, however, kids who like bands like Title Fight and Make Do and Mend will really like the Sheds, because I think that they definitely fall into that new wave of punk/ hardcore bands heavily influence by the ‘90s. I liked the album and hopefully The Sheds make it out to Denver again soon so I can go see them. The album is out now so definitely give it at least one listen.
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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