Ignorance Park
Bad Luck — Or the Plan? (Mortville)
It’s been said many times that the best rock & roll is that which makes you want to fuck or fight. Lose those angry hormonal urges making you look dumb and suddenly it’s real hard to justify flogging around a sentiment like “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” When it comes to angry hormonal urges, it’s safe to say Ignorance Park has virility to boot, but what really delineates them from their local garage punk brethren is their ability to articulate it all. Witness “Fun Times Five,” a grand-slamming drunken traipse down the Drag which does for Guadalupe what the Beach Boys did for Southern California. The anti-boom anthem “Flypaper” also wins points for coining the phrase, “Austin sucks and so do you.” But Ignorance Park’s attack isn’t all 1-2-3-4 punk bluster. The title track and “Copesetic Schizophrenic” exercise uncommon restraint in their evocation of nervous, confused dissonance. You almost feel sorry for vocalist Pope John the Ignorant, at least until he starts singing about picking up the Ballinger, Texas homecoming queen at a truck stop and taking her for a drunken sex romp (“607 West 14th”). Thank goodness some bands never forget where they came from.
This article appears in September 8 • 2000.
