Lower Class Brats
The Plot Sickens (Punkcore)
Directions: Punk’s not dead, punk’s not dead, punk’s not dead. Repeat 50 times while jumping vigorously up and down and guzzling Milwaukee’s Best. Vomit, repeat. It’s nice to see there are still Austin bands playing stuff like this, a full 20 years after the street-punk thing got started. The lyrics remain about politics, poseurs, skins, punx, with the usual middle finger aimed toward the rest of society. The arrangements are pure punk-anthem template, with football-chant choruses, a table-saw guitar sound, and paddle-beat drums. Singer Bones has a throat made out of raw hamburger and guzzles diesel fuel before firing up his voice. True to their roots, the Brats shove safety pins through Mad Parade’s “Sex and Violence.” In a concession to the digital age, The Plot Sickens can even be shoved into your computer so you can viddy Bones and his droogies interactively kickin’ it old school for your viewing pleasure. This stuff may be dated, handcuffed to a bygone era of punk, but the Brats could still take punker-come-lately bands like Blink 182 and mop up the dance-hall floor with them.
This article appears in August 25 • 2000.