Not many bands have tried to merge street-level punk with blue collar rock & roll, but that seems to be what
Roll the Tanks
are shooting for on their second album,
Broke 'til Midnight
. By their own admission,
have a soft spot for classic rock as well as old-school punk, citing
T. Rex
and
Cheap Trick
as personal favorites, but the regular-guy attitude of the lyrics suggests some
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Seger
albums also logged many hours on
RtT
leader
Danny Carney
's turntable, and the best songs here hit a middle ground between the day-to-day lives chronicled by the best Heartland Rock songwriters and the edgier sound and attitude of
the Clash
,
Rancid
, and other acts that followed their lead. The opening number, "24th and Buckets," even finds
tossing snark at the sort of druggy bohemians one might imagine other punk revivalists would want to court, and they frequently lament the prospect of lost youth ("Waiting on a Storm," "Assumption Army," and "Pistolero") and dead-end lives (the title track). And
don't seem very impressed with the comeback of vinyl ("Record Player") or the dominance of the blogosphere ("Computer Money"). But if this band isn't very excited about the arcane details of 21st century hipness, they obviously love rock & roll -- their farewell to personal hero
Jay Reatard
, "Goodnight Jimmy Lee," is tuneful and heartfelt, and most of these tunes are solid meat & potatoes rock, punchy but with a full complement of drive and passion. And
Carney
is a fine, unpretentious rock & roll singer, while guitarist
Aaron Stuart
, bassist
Mike Wakeham
, and drummer
Joe Sirois
back him up with skill and enthusiasm. If you're an aspiring anarchist,
may not speak to you, but folks who work for a living and would like to hear from a band who knows what it's like would be well served by checking out
. ~ Mark Deming