"The
sun went down without giving me everything." Yes, the last years have been
hard for this band, who had a lot of financial problems and problems with their
van during the past few years. They've been touring a lot last year with bands
like MxPx and Ghoti Hook, so after all, everything in The Dingees seems to be
all right so the time was there to release their second album. This album has
been released in the summer of 1999 on BEC Recordings, Brandon Ebel's label for
young, alternative bands and artists, representing a lot of different styles,
like singer/songwriters (Sarah Masen) and SKA (the O.C. Supertones), but also
former Tooth & Nail bands like Joy Electric and Value Pac, who found a new
home on this label.
I bought this album because I had
heard that it was much better than their first release “Armageddon
Massive”, an album which I didn’t really like. But, this band has changed a
lot. Former OC Supertones Saxophone-player Dave Chevalier joined the band and
now they are a four-some, playing songs in styles like SKA, Reggea, but also
very agressive punk, like in Staff Sgt. Skreba, a song about a man dying on
cancer. The variety of this album is it's strength but that's also the problem with this
album. Reggea-tunes like “Trial Tribulation” and “Radio Freedom” give a
real “Jamaica”-swing to this album, combined with the original ska-rhytms
(the Pietasters!!) in up-tempo songs like the title-track “Sundown to
Midnight” and “Leave the Kids alone”. But the Punk songs are a little bit
in the groove of Squad 5-0 and Spudgun, especially in the first song
“Rally-O” and sometimes I wonder if I am listening to the same band. It
would be better, I guess, when The Dingees would focuse on the Ska/Reggea-music,
because they all are really good musicians and Ska is a better way to express
this, I think.
But, when you are looking for an album to
give you a summer-feeling in this long cold winter, this album is a good choice.
The quality of the music and the production (by Steve Kravac, who’s also the
producer of bands like MxPx and the O.C. Supertones) is very good and all the
songs have their own typical story. The lyrics are mostly about life in the
United States or about political themes. It’s hard to find Christian elements
in the songs, but this doesn’t really matter, since they are all born again
Christians, like they say in interviews, and they just sing about what keeps
them busy in their lives.
I’ll give it 8 points of out ten,
and I hope this band will go on like this for a long, long time. Oh, and don’t
forget to check out their contribution on the “Heal the Beach”-album, with
bands on it like MxPx, the Dancehall Crashers and more.
Karel
Smouter
for