As winter rears its ugly head for us northerners, a burst of light comes shining out of California, courtesy of Red Scare’s The All Brights. “Big Wave Dave” Hause, “Shreddin’ Sean” Sellers and company are here to cure our late fall blues with sun-soaked yacht punk straight from the gold coast. They’ve got enough surf, sand, tasty bevvies and big pop-punk melodies to make everyone wild for the night!

When I heard news of some of punk’s most respected veterans putting together this side project, I braced myself for the worst. “Funny” side projects are tough; they’re either rarely as fun for the listener as they are for the musicians, or they put so much work into the joke that the music suffers. This EP is the exception to the rule. The band’s an obvious satire of privileged California surfer bros, and even an ocean-less Midwesterner can appreciate the parody. The All Brights are surfers in the same way that Hot Topic tweens are punk rock: they’re only in it for the style, the good times and the attitude. Although they’d rather “water-board in the surf all day” than read about the CIA’s waterboarding, they’d probably be most content on the beach with a rack of brews. They’re like new characters from SNL’s the Californians, constantly name-dropping local cities and highways in a thick So-Cal accent. 

The EP kicks off with “Hell on a Surfboard,” a surf-rock inspired four-chord punk tune with the fantastic line “I don’t mind minimum wage if I spend most days getting maximum waves.“ It sets the tone for the record: apathetic and party-hardy surfing swagger sung over precise, tight pop-punk. Though it’s a silly side project, the music is calculated enough that it’s easy to confuse a Wild For the Night track with something off Keep Your Heart. Much of the EP has that same style and sound, with a couple of exceptions: “West Coast Fuck You,” an affectionate response to -- and near-parody of -- the Bouncing Souls’ east coast anthem from years ago, and “Happy Hour,” a Jimmy-Buffet-goes-punk-rock drunken stroll of a track.

Is this a top release of the year? Nah, brah. But it’s a hell of a lot more fun to listen to “Storm the Beach” than Beach House. I’d be damned to give this EP anything higher than a 3.5/5 for what it is. ...Are Wild for the Night! is unnecessary and stupid, but so fun, hilarious and well executed in all the right places that come end of year lists, I might rethink my rating. This one’s worth a spot in your collection.