Summer Loving
The Midgetmen
By Chase Hoffberger, Fri., July 24, 2015
The Midgetmen
HobbytownHow old are these guys – 40? And they work tech jobs with benefits like health insurance, vacation, sick days, and boundless dual-screen monitors? Not punk. Yet bawdy bassist Marc Perlman asserts on the album's title track, "Note to self, this punk's not dead!" So what if some of Hobbytown's 10 tracks hurtle forth with a book of lyrics that read like they were scripted by the last balding baby boomer stuck at Beerland? The quartet's fifth effort bleeds from the veins of a true lifer, songs ranging in subject from beers to "Rock & Roll, Honey" and eternal pessimism ("Titus Mollard"). Musically, it burns – or at least scorches temporarily; almost as if Thin Lizzy seeped into the collective conscious of Dikes of Holland when they recorded Braindead USA ("Makers"). Cold spots reveal the Achilles heel for the venerable outfit, meaning don't quit your day jobs, fellas, but hold off on selling your instruments.
