your daily dose of old-school punk rock. check out the debut album from emergency bitter. #soundcheck

Pretty much since the beginning, punk rock has been split between the pranksters and the revolutionaries. For every Joe Strummer hell-bent on changing the world with his music there are 20 guys who just want to have a few drinks with their buddies and play some songs loud and fast. South London’s Emergency Bitter aren’t likely to reinvent music, but that’s not the point. They’re here to put on a show and have a damn good time. And their debut album Ciderfootballpunkrock is a shit-ton of fun.

The songs follow the template of the punk rock bar band. But that’s not a bad thing. It’s a solid template. Are there songs about drinking? Yes. Most of them fit that category. (“Daytime Drinking” is the best of their boozy anthems.) Are there songs about not fitting in? Check. “Square Peg.” Songs about the establishment? “They wrote this song and it’s called Fuck the BNP!” Songs about relationships? “Punk Rock Girl” and the surprisingly sweet “Doris.” A left-field cover of a pop song that you wouldn’t expect to work as a punk cover? Yup. They got your Christina Aguilera right here.

This is old school punk rock, the kind that thrives in dive bars and garages. It’s catchy and stripped down, but most importantly fun.

– Words by Nathan Leigh