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INSUBORDINATION FEST 2007 CD/DVD Review by Jim Testa
 The second annual Insubordination Fest proved to be, as one observer put it, the Woodstock of the ’00 Pop Punk generation, with an international lineup of bands that included scene icons like Ben Weasel, Wimpy Rutherford of the original Queers, the Beatnik Termites, and the Mr. T Experience, along with a small army of the best and the brightest of today’s pop/punk groups. Twenty-seven of those bands – yes, the magic pop/punk number 27 – made it to his collection, which culls one or two songs from each band’s set (Ben Weasel gets a bonus DVD track.) This CD/DVD combo won’t exactly replace being there – nothing could capture the excitement, the camaraderie, the dancing, and the singalongs, not to mention the tropical heat, the power blackout, the improvised late-night basement show, the Sick Sick Birds’ burgers and hot dogs, the massive Interpunk merch tent, and all the other details that attendees will no doubt remember forever. But as both a souvenir of that weekend and a document of where pop/punk stood in 2007, this collection is just about perfect. The sound on the audio CD is much better than I expected, and the video on the DVD (with its frequent cutaways to the insanity going on in the crowd) puts you right in the moshpit for what many felt were career-high (or career-making) performances by bands like For Science, the Guts, the Unlovables, the Ergs!, the Parasites, Chinese Telephones, the Leftovers, and the Copyrights, as well as what will no doubt be remembered as historic appearances by Ben Weasel, the rarely seen Teenage Bottlerocket from Wyoming, and the ageless Wimpy. For those of us who were there, this collection lets us savor our favorite moments (or fill in the blanks for the bands we missed due to bad timing, late arrivals, food breaks, or simple exhaustion;) if you weren’t there, you get a second chance at seeing what all the fuss was about. Either way, you need this. A portion of the proceeds benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. – Jim Testa
ARMS ALOFT – Demo (armsaloftforever.com)
The Eau Claire, Wisconsin band won’t surprise anyone who’s been paying attention to hardcore lately. Half Jawbreaker homage and half Dillinger Four tribute, Arms Aloft repeats an increasingly familiar formula, from raw-throated vocals to arm-pumping gang-vocal choruses right up to verbose song titles that have nothing to do with the lyrics. (A quick look at their MySpace page confirms that ¾ of the band has beards, wear hoodies, and I’d bet they sport flat-brimmed hats too.) The thing is, yes, it’s all one big 2007 cliché, but they do it all rather well; and if I saw them at some basement show, I’d probably be pumping my arms and singing along with everybody else. And this is only a demo. Hopefully by their next release, Arms Aloft will come up with something original to add to the well-defined sub-genre of punk they’ve embraced and already mastered. – Jim Testa
 TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET –
Warning Device (Red Scare)
After a quick shot of adrenaline with the opening theme-song “Bottlerocket,” Laramie, Wyoming’s Teenage Bottlerocket crank up the charm, the single-string Weaselcore leads, and the whoa-oh-oh’s for an ultra-catchy sophomore full-length that’s guaranteed to bring a smile to lovers of Ramones-influenced punk. The instantly-recognizable vocals of Kody (of classic horror-punkers The Lillingtons,) alternate with co-guitarist Ray, as together they slur words like “one” and “own” into polysyllabic hooks. The trick with Ramonescore is that bands have to maintain the illusion of simplicity (often to the point of stupidity) while constantly inventing new melodies and choruses that stick in the brain like the used bubblegum embedded under the desks at Rock N Roll High School. All great pop music melds the new with the comfortably familiar, and Teenage Bottlerocket does that as well as anyone here, rewriting (nay, improving) the Ramones’ “I Don’t Want To Go Down To The Basement” as “In The Basement,” and then revisiting crucial teenage issues (from dating to self-image) with the insight and innocence that can only be mined from the state of perpetually retarded adolescence known as Punk Rock. Here’s to never growing up.
THE ADORKABLES – “In The Afterhours” EP (myspace.com/theadorkables)
On their second release, California’s Adorkables sing about zombies. I’m not sure why (Halloween comes but once a year; Pop/Punk has no season,) but bands could do worse than follow in the footsteps of the Misfits and Lillingtons. Especially since the Adorkables – with Eric Gentry’s booming lead vocals (which bear a noticeable resemblance to his influences, Glenn and Kody, ) relentlessly catchy upstroked power chords, and lots of singalong whoa-oh’s – handle this sub-genre of punk so well. The songs are fast and funny, with memorable melodies, stinging lead guitars, and big, bright harmony-rich choruses. They’ve obviously got the talent, and I wind up singing along every time I listen to this; but I would like to hear what they can do when they write songs about something besides the walking dead.
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