Written by Bella Landes<\/p>\n
Kansas City based punk rock band Red Kate follows-up to their 2016 album Unamerican Activities, with their new album Exit Strategy that builds off of the base that Unamerican Activities left behind.<\/p>\n
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The tone of the album is very guitar heavy, as like its predecessor. A lot of the songs invoke the thought of \u201cI swear I\u2019ve heard something like this before\u201d. As someone whose dad played burned punk rock CD\u2019s in the car for most of their childhood \u2013 that thought has peered into my mind far too many times. I\u2019ve sat there half inattentively at my desk just trying to figure out what the songs remind me of, but as someone who is not a punk rock connoisseur, I still feel just as clueless as before.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDon\u2019t Think Too Much\u201d opened the album with me thinking more about the riffs than the lyrics. If anything, I didn\u2019t think too much about this song. Part of Red Kate\u2019s charm is the way their influences blend together into a cohesive album. I find myself throughout the time I have listened to this wondering where I have heard this sound before. I still do not have that figured out.<\/p>\n
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Following that song, \u201cShe\u2019s in Love\u201d takes a different approach, starting with vocals that make it sound like a song by the Ramones. Then, the song goes back to the status-quo of a Red Kate album \u2013 loud instruments and thrashing vocals. The way the chorus is sung sounds very similar to the Ramones, and it makes me question how much the Ramones contributed to the creation of this album \u2013 but then again they are the fathers of punk rock. If you call yourself a punk rock band, it is almost inevitable that the Ramones manifest in some way in your work.<\/p>\n
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Things hit peak cluelessness when \u201cEscape Room\u201d started playing, and I thought \u201cHEY, THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE CURE!\u201d, and then I remembered that this could be considered an insult to the band. So, I do take back my statement on it sounding like the Cure, and I promise to never mention that again. I found myself questioning why I thought this, but quite frankly in some parts of the song the vocals sounded like Robert Smith, and my only guess is the fragments of vocals that do sound like that. This is one of the more tame songs off of the album, and in my humble opinion, this is the strongest song thus far.<\/p>\n
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Anyhow, following my existential crisis regarding whether or not lead vocalist L. Rod Drunkard (a play on L. Ron Hubbard from the church of scientology) sounds like Robert Smith, I got to hear \u201cI Don\u2019t Want to Hear About It\u201d. Quite frankly, the song is alright. Again, the way the vocals are belted out sound like the Ramones! The vocals itself do NOT sound like the Ramones, I am just saying\u2026 For the record, I refuse to drop this Ramones comparison \u2013 because what else am I going to compare it to?<\/p>\n
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\u201cHome of the Slave\u201d is a continual reminder of the political bearings of the band. Just going off of their bandcamp page \u2013 they are a \u201cno bullshit, class conscious punk rock band\u201d, and they certainly are not lying. The song is essentially a history lesson about slavery packed into a Red Kate song. This is one of the things I do appreciate about Red Kate \u2013 the incorporation of historical things into their music. Such as, with their previous album Unamerican Activities. Then again, I am one-hundred-percent biased since my major is related to history.<\/p>\n
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When it came to \u201cNo Solution\u201d, my attention towards the album peaked. If that song was being played out of context and I was told by whomever that the band is British, I would one-hundred-percent believe them. The band\u2019s bandcamp lists them as being influenced by British pub-rock \u2013 and clearly in that song those influences show, and it manifests in an interesting way. Once again, continuing with the political theme of \u201cHome of the Slave\u201d, this song incorporates the modern politics of freedom and the political dumpster fire that is America into your typical Red Kate song.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMind Control\u201d; has my mind been controlled into thinking they sound kind of like the Ramones? Again, this song focuses on freedom, facing madness, and embracing sadness. I find this to be the central theme of the band \u2013 freedom is a common theme in their songs, they face the madness and embrace the sadness into their songs. Hole is the song that follows \u201cMind Control\u201d, and it starts off with some backwards vocals that had me confused on the first listen. Then I realized that there is a hole in my head, and that I should just read the lyrics next time. This song is short and sweet, and again, fits the theme of embracing sadness.<\/p>\n
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The song that follows \u201cHole\u201d, \u201cUrban Church\u201d, provides Red Kate\u2019s insight on modern religion \u2013 as like most punk rock bands, it\u2019s a secular take. Of course, Red Kate ties in more politics, with the song beginning with \u201cyou\u2019ll believe almost anything if your god told you so\u201d, which is something that is more than true for a lot of people. Another core component of the thoughts that this album explores.<\/p>\n
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\u201cLost Connection\u201d continues onward with the theme of fooling me into thinking they are British. Of course, like with many of the other songs on this album, it has a focus on freedom \u2013 and how there are invisible wires that are chaining us down. If anything, it provides their commentary on man and machine \u2013 a conversation that has definitely gained relevance since their previous album.<\/p>\n
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The second to last track on the album, \u201cIraqi Girl\u201d sets itself apart as being a heavier track on the album. Another politicized song, that seems to imply the mess that was the Iraq war \u2013 the amount of lies, and the amount of lives lost.<\/p>\n
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The final track on the album, \u201cShut it Down\u201d, takes a different approach. It shuts down the album effectively. I felt that the instruments synchronized with each other perfectly, for me, this was the highlight of the album. Like the track prior to it, it does feel heavier in comparison to the rest of the album \u2013 as well as its predecessor.<\/p>\n
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What sets this album apart from Unamerican Activities is the increased focus on a polished punk rock sound, as much as those words do not belong in the same sentence. To me, I found Exit Strategy to have a more polished sound, while at the same time turning it up to an 11. It\u2019s like if you gave Unamerican Activities a bunch of red bull and an amp that is set to the highest level.<\/p>\n
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