Strike Anywhere - To Live in Discontent

Strike Anywhere
To Live in Discontent
Jade Tree
Grade: A-

Finally breaking out of the shadow of another immaculate Richmond, VA, punk band (that is, Avail), Strike Anywhere offer up a collection of b-sides, rarities and cover songs on To Live in Discontent. Taking up a similar mantle as Avail, Strike Anywhere have subsisted on political punk which focuses on material from police brutality, rights of the working poor, privacy fascism and the like. It is true that recent punk bands have concentrated more on selling on MTV than dealing with such a swath of topics. Coming off the Rock Against Bush tour this past year with like-minded Anti-Flag, Strike Anywhere are one of the few bands going that is able to lace political lyrics into catchy songs and make it not sound awkward. This is a phenomenally difficult task and as this collection of thirteen songs illustrates, Strike Anywhere is damn good at it. The first two tracks – “Asleep” and “Antidote” – were on a limited release 7” on Fat Wreck. Both tracks feature probably the most uptempo numbers here and at times the guitars and lead singer Thomas Barnett come off like Lifetime (and that is a good thing). The next six songs come from the 2000 Chorus of One EP and it is clear that the title track is a stunner. “Chorus of One” has basically everything you are looking for from a punk song – muting, breakdowns, timely thumping bass and a degree of catchiness. While the next four pale in comparison, highlights still come from “Incendiary” and “Notes on Pulling the Sky Down.” As a relative matter, the Exit English-throw away “Two Fuses” competes for the best song on this record. Compelling in its own right, the chorus line of “And these wire taps and satellite maps can’t touch my right to exist” will burn in your memory and force you to listen to the song repeatedly. The next track “Sunspotting” comes off Strike Anywhere’s 1999 demo and has that to-be-awesome local punk band sound. The final three songs are covers of “Two Sides” by the Gorilla Biscuits, “Values Here” by Dag Nasty and “Where Are They Now?” by Cock Sparrer (who?). Far and away, the song and cover of “Where Are They Now?” is flat-out awesome amongst this set. To Live in Discontent performs admirably as a compilation of previously tough to attain Strike Anywhere tracks and serves nicely as a pick-up for people enthralled by 2003’s Exit English.