Burning Nickels – Cobwebs EP

Red Deer, Alberta melodic punks Burning Nickels bring together members of Trashed Ambulance, Chimp Change and the Moröns and play exactly the type of impudent, plaintive pop punk you’d sort of expect from a project featuring members of all these bands. Their latest release, an EP titled Cobwebs dials up the guest vocalists stakes with appearances from Dannyboy (The Corps), Alex Goldfarb (Debt Neglector), Kurt Anderson (Ellesmere) and Sam Russo. Each of the EP’s four tracks features a different guest vocalist and this brings an unexpected level of diversity to the songs here.

The title track is an excellent pop punk romp which unabashedly displays the bands prowess in rhyming couplets with lyrics exploring a well-trodden path of poor choices and the regret and despair that often follows. Whilst it’s not breaking any musical boundaries, it is very well done. Sentiment features Alex Goldfarb and his harsher vocal tones bring something different as they contrast well with the more subtle musical notes whilst still following the melody-heavy pop punk playbook. The With Sam Russo’s folk punk sensibilities you’d be forgiven for thinking his guest spot on Bootstrap would drag the band in that direction and whilst the opening few bars feel more somber, the quick descent into skate punk territory is a little surprising, but more than welcome. The blend of styles works with great effect here and would have been the highlight for me had I not foolishly dismissed Summer Boner as some sort of juvenile in-joke before listening to it. I am very pleased to admit that this opinion was spectacularly off base as this hook laden, poignant and irreverant recollection of lost love is easily the EP’s highlight.

With melodic or pop/punk being an incredibly broad and crowded sub genre, Burning Nickels have enough about them to differentiate themselves whilst still familiar enough to feel a connection with. Love what the guys here are doing and their inspired choices in guests really elevates this above the mundane.

Grab yourself a copy via the High End Denim Records bandcamp