Big D & The Kids Table – Do Your Art

Big D & the Kids Table is one of those bands I’ve learned to refrain from guessing anything about when it comes to anticipating each successive album.  They are the most eclectic ska-punk band in existence – and proud of it.  This has led to somewhat of a love-hate relationship from record to record, and sometimes even within albums themselves.  Big D & The Kids Table has produced some of my favourite ska tunes, and some that have left me scratching my head.  For instance, “Doped Up Dollies on a One Way Ticket to Blood ” was a career highlight that burned Fluent in Stroll forever in memory, whereas the strange street life experiment Porch Life fell on deaf ears.  

One thing is for sure, front man David McWane is an innovator that never hesitates to try on some new shoes and take them for a walk – and that brings us to Big D & The Kids Table’s first new album in over seven years.  It’s been a while since the band’s last proper full length, and Do Your Art feels like therapy for McWane in releasing any pent up creative tension.

Do Your Art opens with a smash – both musically and figuratively.  The crash of glass explodes amidst a chorus of cheers in “Dead Bottle.”  McWane captures the thrill of watching beer bottles explode from up high in some variation of a drinking game that he declares the “Best game ever!”  The excitement shifts between upstroke backed horn blasts and a punked-up rapid fire pace.  It’s everything that defines classic Big D & The Kids Table, turning on a dime and leaving listeners winded by the track’s end.  If it all feels overly erratic and held together by a few strings too few, then you aren’t alone.  McWane acknowledges that this all be a bit much for the casual listener or mainstream critics in “Too Much.”  Think of the track as a bit of a disclaimer directed towards anyone that might feel the album is a little too weird, wild, and unhinged (that being said, tracks like “You Buggin’” probably are a little much for anyone…).  “I ain’t here for fame, could care less how I’m viewed,” proclaims McWane, flipping the bird to critics in the line, “never signed up to play by any of their rules, wallpapered my room with all my bad reviews.”  The sentiment doubles as McWane’s love letter to the scene, reminding listeners that “ska isn’t just a style,” it’s a way of life.  

Those that can surrender to the chaos will find many high points and purely entertaining moments playfully woven throughout.  McWane themes the album loosely around concepts of resilience, using humour and situational exaggeration to drive home his messages.  Songs like “Toyed” and “Sociopath” liberate victims of abusive relationships, encouraging those being manipulated to stand up and denounce their captors.  Again, the humour really shines through amidst the buoyant blast of energetic brass and punked-up propulsion.  The sauntering lazy-day groove of “New Day” is a celebration of individuality, being true to yourself and letting your passions guide you.  The perspective of viewing second chances as new beginnings undergirds this optimism.  

Despite McWane pushing 45 years old, he still identifies with the down and out underdogs, exuding the same energy as twenty years back.  “Strong and Fair” cements this sentiment in the line, “not one adult ever figured me out, so I had to learn what makes me.”  Songs like “Lost in London” present an underdog anthem depicting McWade and his troupe wandering aimlessly down moonlit London streets after hours.  Given the spastic, juvenile nature of songs like “Metal in the Microwave” with lines like, “the power of the dark side is kicking it in my house, turn the lights off and watch an epic space battle,” you’d never guess that McWane was well into in his mid-forties.

Another point of interest throughout Do Your Art is the obscure number of commercial and movie sound clips punctuating the track list.  It’s an eclectic mix of modern movie exerts, 50’s drive-in snack-bar commentary, vintage snack commercials and other bits and bobs.  The band dedicates three independent tracks and countless intros and outros to these memorable soundbites, such as the melodic repetition of defunct candy bars like “Chicken Dinner” and “Bit-O-Honey,” the sound of vintage pac-man, and cheesy movie trailers describing “a mad scientist and his cute lab assistant and a giant octopus that terrorizes anyone entering the swamp outside his house.”  It’s weird, zany, and makes Do Your Art humorous and entertaining.

At its heart, Do Your Art is ska-punk without borders.  The brass is sharp but doesn’t conform to convention and McWane’s attitude is unpredictable.  The mere fact that there is such continuity throughout such chaos is telling in and of itself.  Big D & The Kids Table doesn’t follow the rules – they make their own and have a heck of a lot of fun along the way.  Do Your Art won’t be for everyone, but for those looking for something left of centre with a side of hot sauce it will feel right at home.