The Interrupters - Fight the Good Fight

The Interrupters
Fight the Good Fight
2018
Spotify

American ska-punk has taken a beating over the years. The good bands got pushed out by a slew of kids in a garage starting a band and watering down the genre to almost nothing. You see it with the Warped Tour coming to close and having to scour the internet for anything of value. Well that's where I was at 2 pm in the afternoon, looking for something to review and typing "new ska albums 2018". The Interrupters were the first band i stumbled upon and I am glad that I did. This new album, Fight the Good Fight, their third is full of exciting ska-punk music fronted by the incredibly talented Aimee Interrupter (Allen). Aimee pushes a snarled delivery a la Joan Jett and even has the upbringing to back it up. She comes from a broken family and grew up in foster care. Punk became her refuge as it is for so many troubled youths. However on this album the band find a sense of community and belonging through the music. That was always the point of ska, everyone was welcome, any sound any style it all felt like fair game. When the music became a product it lost the edge, the snarl and the wild nature of the damn thing but Fight the Good Fight brings it back. "Got Each Other" which features Rancid, the album was produced by Rancid front man Tim Armstrong, feels like a huge coming home and even though the lyrics are squarely on the nose you still find yourself singing along to them as they celebrate their community.

Aimee has this really great ability to sound both aggressive and inviting all at once. "Outrage" has a bit of a confusing message dissecting how people can be easily outraged over seemingly small offenses. It's a position a lot of the people on the right like to take, saying people should just deal with it, but this is more nuanced and tries to understand why people can't just get along, even if the message gets a little jumbled in the delivery. The record as a whole though hits like jab, coming in at just under 32 minutes. There are times where it can sound like The Interrupters are re-hashing all the old ska tropes but the sound is so warm and the energy so palpable you forgive them for it. Fight the Good Fight never let's up and makes sure it's last track has just as much cathartic release as every other song. It's good music that tries to extol some good vibes at the same time. It's exciting to hear something new with some life from this genre and it might just be The INterrupters who make it happen.

7.8 out of 10