Jonny's Bigass Music Review Part 3
Posted by Jonny X on January 04, 2007

Well, considering only Squiddy (Many thanks, good sir) responded to either of the first two posts and has heard of neither of the first two bands, you wonder if you should press on in the face of apathy. I say “Hells Yeah!” since I have access to post things on the front page, and ultimately I only write to amuse and entertain myself. So, since I’m loving these reviews and think they’re fantastic, we’re gonna keep going! How do you like that, anonymous internet reader?! There’s nothing you can do about it! And this isn’t the end! I got three more after this one! You can just sit there and like it! I am Jonny X, and I write about punk rock!!!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

JONNY REVIEWS THE SIX NEW PUNK CDS HE BOUGHT THIS YEAR!!!

If you survived that opening paragraph and haven’t hit your back button yet, welcome. Here is part three submitted for your approval… or submitted as a way for you to kill 10 minutes at work when you should be worrying about those TPS reports. Enjoy!

Zebrahead – Broadcast to the World

Justin Mauriello can eat shit.

Seriously, he’s the lead singer of one of my top three favorite bands and leaves to start some dorky, new wave alt-rock band called I Hate Kate. According to a post from one of the band members of Zebrahead, he began having creative differences with the rest of the band during Playmate of the Year because he had become enthralled with stuff like The Killers and The Strokes. The rest of Zebrahead, meanwhile, wanted to continue to bring the hip hop infused punk rock we’ve grown to love and expect. After MFZB, he finally called it quits and left the band without its lead singer.

Usually this serves as the death knell for any band since its singer is the band’s most distinguishing element and recognizable entity. I applaud Zebrahead for having the guile and wherewithal to press on. Enter Matty Lewis who had the monumental task of replacing the talented and charismatic Mauriello. I was skeptical about their possibility for success, but luckily Matty stepped in in a gigantic way and did an admirable job of replacing the dickheaded Mauriello.

Credit goes to him for not trying to do a Mauriello impression, but rather putting his own spin on the Zebrahead sound. He sounds enough like Mauriello to where when you’re listening to Zebrahead in concert you’re not thinking about how jarring it sounds to hear familiar songs sung by a foreign voice. He’s mastered the essence of what it means to be the lead singer of Zebrahead, but he brings his own style which is an amazing task considering how indelible Mauriello was on the image of Zebrahead.

That brings us to Broadcast to the World. I was excited when I saw that Zebrahead was on the Warped Tour this summer and coming through Denver. When I got there, I immediately sought out their tent and was thrilled to see the new album available for purchase. It wasn’t scheduled for release in the U.S. until October (Although it was released in Japan already, Zebrahead is huge in Japan. When I asked their bassist why Zebrahead was so big in Japan as opposed to here, I was expecting some detailed cultural breakdown of music tastes, but instead the answer was simply that their label promoted them over there. Go figure.), and with it being July, I jumped at the chance to get it before any of my idiot friends.

Unlike Less Than Jake, I have looked forward to, relished, and loved every new Zebrahead album that has come out. The first time I listened to MFZB, I didn’t stop listening to it for three months. I hadn’t done that since I was 17.

Broadcast to the World is the epitome of what seeing Zebrahead live is all about. The guitars are loud, the drums are in your face, the lyrics are silly yet heartfelt, and the sound is bouncy, fun, and intense. Matty Lewis shares vocal duties with Ali Tabatabaee who fills the verses with some of the most intense raps you’ve ever heard. In the realm of rap-metal-punk, forget that clown from Linkin Park, Ali has got it all over that bitch. This album is something of a throwback to Zebrahead’s first major release in that it sees Ali rap most of the verses while Matty belts out the choruses. It’s a formula that works if you’re a fan of Zebrahead cranking up the fury.

Fortunately, I think Zebrahead is at its best when cranking up the fury. Nearly every song features Ali firing off raps like his feet are on fire (Does that even make sense?) with a blistering drumbeat behind him. Matty manages to keep up once the chorus finally rolls around, but sometimes it feels like just barely. This album is his first foray into the world of Zebrahead, and sometimes it shows. His vocals seem almost restrained at times like he’s not sure about going full throttle all the time and just cutting it loose. This makes for a couple of uneven vocal performances, most notably on “Rated U for Ugly.” Ali’s frantic pace outsteps the drawn out syllables of the choruses by about half a tick which throws off your head-nodding only slightly.

This is not to say that Matty is overmatched by any means. He holds his own for the majority of the album evidenced most clearly on “Anthem.” It’s almost like Ali dares him to throw a couple of rap-style verses of his own into the mix, and Matty steps up brilliantly staying step-for-step with his cohort at every turn.

For all of its raps, Zebrahead is still about as far from nu-metal as it gets. Zebrahead is still an adolescent hard rock/punk band at its heart. The raps simply serve as Zebrahead’s unique signature on an otherwise saturated genre. Anyone can play three-cord speed rock and sing songs about how bitches is crazy folk, but no one can do it like Zebrahead. It’s their marriage of hard rock sensibility and juvenile fun that I think makes them such an enjoyable and noteworthy band. A quick glance at a few of the song titles on this album shows plain as day that Zebrahead doesn’t take itself too seriously. Try these on for size: “Karma Flavored Whisky,” “Lobotomy for Dummies,” and “Your New Boyfriend Wears Girl Pants.” It’s almost like the anti-My Chemical Romance.

Musically this album doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s like the old saying goes, “When you find a winner, stick with it.” Zebrahead knows what it does well, and sticks to the formula. I don’t think constant change and progression is always necessary. blink 182’s last album was supposed to be their most inventive and experimental, and fucking bit the big one. I had some friends try and convince me of how blink 182 had created their finest record and what a shame it was that they broke up before more magic could be made.

Um, no.

Blink 182 simply ran out of ideas, threw a bunch of shit haphazardly together, and created a giant steaming turd that ultimately showed them that they shouldn’t be a band anymore. It was like the punk rock equivalent of a band who thinks it’s Radiohead, but has a mere fraction of the musical experience and intelligence. Experimentation for the sake of experimentation and lack of anything better to do is stupid.

And for the record, next to The Beatles I think Radiohead is the most overrated band of all time. I get why people think it’s good, but I think they’re trying to fool themselves into thinking ambient noise and cacophonous clamor is actual music.

Anyway, Zebrahead knows its own formula and plays it to perfection. What they’ve created is another solid entry into an already impressive catalog. Matty Lewis has done an incredible job of washing away the bitter taste of Justin’s departure while carving out his own little niche in the process. He’s walked that fine line between familiarity and evolution without falling on his face, so a big fat thumbs up for him!

This album doesn’t have as many pure sing-a-longs as, say, Playmate of the Year, but they forego a lot of the pop music posturing that occurred. Ultimately I think this direction will benefit Zebrahead in the long run. Fame is fleeting, but a relatively small, militantly loyal fanbase lasts forever. If Zebrahead keeps making records like this, I’ll never go anywhere.