Average Times – Self Titled

Ottawa’s Average Times is like the lost child of the Dirtnap Records family.  Adopted by Hosehead Records on the other side of the continent, the band’s punchy brand of garage punk jumps along at a brisk, jangly pace.  Like the best garage punk, their self-titled debut full-length puts plain simple fun first and the rules a distant second.  

As implied by their name, Average Times is bent on getting the most out of the every day, regardless of how the sun shines.  Smothered in fuzzy chords and spastic, care-free pop-punk vocals, Average Times’ outright catchy tunes take the spotlight from the onset.  Opener “Popsicle” oozes energy in the vein of Mind Spiders and Mean Jeans with dirt simple chords and peppy lifestyle manifesto “like a popsicle in the sun, everybody’s having fun.”  The simplicity of the line captures the VHS-era home movies motif of finding the best of times in life’s simplest and least expected moments.  “Wasted On Wine” gets a little tipsy in a very Night Birds sort of way, and even the crunchy loner anthem “Leave Me Alone” proves you can have a blast in the absence of your friends.  Meanwhile, by virtue of convulsing lines like “my baby’s got snakes in her hair… my my my my my my my medusa!” on the aptly titled “Snakes,” it’s hard not to feel like Average Times is channeling the thematic content of the long defunct Awesome Snakes. 

With so many comparisons it would be easy to mistake Average Times as a “me too” act, but somehow they rise above the sum of their parts.  A level of polish glistens through the fuzz on quick and dirty tracks like “Look Loose” and more methodical and paced ones like “She Knows.”   The fun is genuine – there’s nothing artificial or copycat-like to Average Times.

Even with the album’s handful of tempo changes and obvious influences, it would be easy to comment on the band’s heavy reliance on repetition, but that would be faulting Average Times for a pillar of garage punk.  Average Times may not be terribly ambitious or thought provoking, but it will fill your body with energy and mark your face with a smile.  So if you’re willing to turn your brain off and succumb to catchy beat after catchy beat, then Average Times will be your good times.