Pinhead Gunpowder

Pinhead Gunpowder made quite a splash when they played a few shows earlier this year. Aaron Cometbus's name sadly did not dominate the headlines, given Green Day's resurgence in the past few years. The band asked Recess to put out three new tracks on vinyl and the goods are just as good as you'd expect.

Side 1 features two new tracks, one penned by the Cometbus author and another by "W. Fink", and they're as fast and "East Bay" as you'd expect them to be. "West Side Highway" is an upbeat song about finding your place to belong while "Anniversary Song" is a more melancholic, vague track hinting at regrets of leaving a place you once loved.

Side 2 features a track written by "W. Hink" Cometbus and is a sweet acoustic duet between Billie Joe and Lauren (her name and face are featured on the backside of the 7"). It's a very cute track that's a bit romantic and very "punk rock" with lyrics like "I had some friends, a psychotic couple / they had a room in a residential hotel / they fought in the bed / while we fucked on the floor." It's a good time, something to be sung with friends while swilling some cheap beers.

If you grab this on iTunes, you get an alternate version of "On the Ave" that doesn't feature Lauren's vocals and is a little better recorded.

This 7" is far better recorded than previous Pinhead Gunpowder releases and it suffers not a bit. A pretty fantastic release for a band that hasn't released anything new in eight years.

Vinyl graciously provided for purchase by Oakland's 1234 Go! Store.