Album Review: The Crash Mats – 69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics

The Crash Mats are a ska punk trio from Oldham in Manchester, UK, who have built up a solid fan base from constantly taking their energetic beer fuelled live shows to wherever will have them. After the release of their debut album, Now That’s What I Call Crash Mats 69, last summer the band have been gigging across the UK, but now they’ve made it back in the studio and have recorded their sophomore album, 69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics, that is due for release on September 15th 2017 via Horn & Hoof Records, the album contains twenty tracks of what they describe as their ‘idiotic ska punk’ and it’s a welcome blast of good natured punk rock that is completely free of pretension and sobriety.

The Crash Mats mix the Ramones drive with ska punk and the intensity of Snuff in their prime, that is all delivered with a distinctly grass roots approach. There’s a local flavour to a fair few of the tracks on 69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics, You Drive Me To Drink is dedicated to their local football club, Oldham Athletic FC, Oldham’s National Anthem is dedicated to the town’s dietary habits and Don’t Go Down Yorkshire Street On A Friday Night sounds like wise advice. 69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics also contains tracks that reference Police Academy movies and getting wasted, as well as many references to life as a punk band in Oldham, there are also three bonus tracks added at the end of this seventeen track album, but the band have sworn me to secrecy about the nature of them, but safe to say they also carry the style and humour that dominates The Crash Mats sophomore album.

The Crash Mats are borne of the thriving grass roots punk scene in Manchester and in 69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics they have delivered a beer fuelled epic of upbeat ska and punk that’s combined with their self confessed idiocy, the end result is an album of good natured punk rock that will appeal to fans of the likes of Snuff, The Macc Lads and The Toy Dolls. 69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics is an example of knockabout punk rock at it’s very best that, just in case you hadn’t worked it out, doesn’t take itself even remotely seriously. 

69 Peruvian Panpipe Classics will be released on September 15th via Horn And Hoof Records

Horn And Hoof Records website is located here and their Bandcamp is here

The Crash Mats Facebook page can be found here