General Interest - Right By The Beach 12"

Artist: General Interest
Album: Right By The Beach 12"
Release: 2009
Label: Ride The Snake

Tracklist:

1. Crusty Dog Show
2. Capricious Youth
3. Right By The Beach
4. Nuke The Ocean
5. Cops In Love
6. What's A Darfur
7. I Still Vote For Reagan
8. Drunk Doctor
9. Sick Of Waiting

Featuring ex- or current members of the Conversions, Red Thread, Chompy, Bloody Gears, Eunuch, and perhaps most importantly Sexual Janitor, General Interest are a not-so-new band out of Boston even though this is their first proper release (I'm not counting their demo tape). Everyone around here knows them because they used to play just about every other basement show in town as Steve (vocal stylings) and Wendy (bass) lived at Platonic Sleepover House (RIP).

I think for this reason I didn't ever really think about listening to General Interest. That and the fact that they're usually compared to bands like the Minutemen and Big Boys. It's not that I don't like these bands, it's just that I think bands ripping them off are a novelty nowadays. And perhaps they are because not many bands sound like General Interest in 2009, but Right by the Beach is good enough that it's been spinning pretty consistently on my turntable since I first picked it up in May (note: this was just the "release" version, it actually came out mid-September). It's short and sweet enough that it remains tight throughout, which is what General Interest should stick to. The only song over two minutes ("Sick of Waiting") wears on me at times.

Propelled by the off-kilter guitar riffs and bass lines that draw the Minutemen comparisons, I'd throw in a Black Randy comparison for Steve's vocals (maybe just because it seems that every Boston review needs a Dangerhouse comparison these days). No one is safe from his acerbic wit. After all, life is pain. Maybe I like his lyrics because that's what he's like in real life, but probably more so because he hates on everyone that bothers me too, whether those damn punks like in "Crusty Dog Show" (everyone knows Crucifix hats are way cooler than Crass backpatches) or those goddamn "Capricious Youth." Even though punks aren't supposed to take themselves seriously, we all know that some of them do, and it's nice to have someone to rag on them for you.

Let's be real though, the highlight of this album is Rob's riff ripped straight from Space Jam in "Drunk Doctor."

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-Catherine