The Punk Site 2021 Top 20: Dan Vapid & The Cheats – Escape Velocity

As 2021 is finally about to end it’s time to reveal The Punk Site‘s favourite release from the year that is almost over, at the number one spot are Dan Vapid And The Cheats, a punk rock band featuring singer, songwriter and guitarist Dan Vapid, a veteran of the punk scene who has played in influential bands such as Screeching Weasel, The Riverdales, Sludgeworth, The Methadones, Noise By Numbers, The Mopes and The Queers. Dan Vapid And The Cheats released their fourth full length, Escape Velocity, via Eccentric Pop Records in November, the album features thirteen new tracks that play almost like a concept album, exploring themes of loss, sorrow, and redemption. It’s a personal, insightful record, musically rooted in Vapid’s classic punk rock style while also exploring and incorporating his wide-ranging musical influences.

“If you like succinct reviews, read the next sentence and then go on with your business. This is a sublime album and you really should buy it … To unpick every song would be pointless as every moment on this album is almost perfect. Not ground-breaking or bewildering different, but finely crafted. Polished but not sickly slick and with enough grit to underline that this is real, even if its imagined. Absolutely no filler … All in all, a flawless album of huge yet intimate songs constructed with love and a real sense of the personality behind them. As confident and perfect an album as you’ll have heard all year.” (Peter Hough, November 2021)

Escape Velocity is currently available through streaming platforms, Bandcamp and on CD via Eccentric Pop Records. Due to the ongoing vinyl manufacturing delays the album will be released on vinyl in the spring of 2022 alongside a cassette release via Memorable But Not Honorable Tapes.

The Punk Site’s 2021 Top 20 In Full

1. Dan Vapid & The Cheats – Escape Velocity
2. The Mighty Mighty BossToneS – When God Was Great
3. NOFX – Single Album
4. The Courettes – Back To Mono
5. Dropkick Murphys – Turn Up That Dial
6. Jakob Mind – The One Who Got Away
7. John – Nocturnal Manoeuvres
8. Fightmilk: Contender
9. Decent Criminal  – DC EP
10. The Cutthroat Brothers & Mike Watt – Devil In Velvet
11. Filthy Dirty – Rise And Fall Of Blasphemouth
12. Fiddlehead – Between The Richness
13. No Breakfast Goodbye / Ink Bomb – Split EP
14. The Wildhearts – 21st Century Love Songs
15. Belvedere – Hindsight Is The Sixth Sense
16. The Last Gang – Noise Noise Noise
17. Incisions – Bliss
18. Mark Murphy And The Meds – On The Brink
19. Ruts DC – ElectrAcoustiC
20. Thirteen – Ego Trap EP