Suburban Legends - Forever in the Friendzone

Suburban Legends
Forever in the Friendzone
2015
Suburban Legends - Forever in the Friendzone

Anyone from California that spent at least one second rocking out to Ska music has at one time or another found themselves at a Suburban Legends show. For a time they were neck and neck with bands like No Doubt, Reel Big Fish and Sublime in terms of popularity. Just as Ska faded from the public consciousness so did Suburban Legends. However it seems that they still have plenty of die hard fans because Forever in the Friendzone was funded by a Kickstarter and the band went on an extensive tour. The album though in all honesty is quite weak. For guys that have long left high school almost every song tries to connect with people that age who probably don't listen to ska anyway. "Thank You for Being a Friend" one of the more fun tracks on the record and a Golden Girls cover really fits the band's style and is the vein the should be in, poppy ska bright songs. The horns on the entire album are top notch and are really the best part as is the case with much of ska music. The most egregious vocals come on "Leave Me Alone" which are just absolutely dreadful.

There are times where you really want a band to not evolve, you wish they would keep making the same album over and over just so you could keep enjoying it. With Suburban Legends you are desperate for the opposite. There is just zero growth, zero change and zero attempt to modernize a genre which is desperate for it. "Saturday Night" shows a bit of a spark musically, but the lyrics are so plain that a real connection is almost impossible. If there is going to be a resurgence of Ska music Suburban Legends probably are not going to be the flag bearers of the movement. You can go ahead and skip this record and take a listen to their first album Rump Shaker for some real skay goodness.

3.9 out of 10