D Generation – Nothing Is Everywhere

For over fifteen years, Jesse Malin has made the most of his career as a solo artist.  Generally exploring the approachable territory between punk and alt-rock, his passionate vocals connect with audiences across various tales of lost loves and hometown heroes.  There’s a certain Springsteen and Gaslight Anthem-esque quality to the front man’s delivery, making his stories grounded and relatable despite their underlying uniqueness.  But as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder, as it seems after eight studio albums Malin has felt the pull of his roots and has returned to ground zero, the source of his career, glam-punk band D Generation.  

In the band’s distant heyday, grunge was in full swing, kids were slammin’ down POGs, and the “M” in MTV still meant music.  D Generation defined themselves as a grungy glam rock outfit with a punk rock attitude.  But let’s make one thing clear, the return of D Generation does not equate with the return of the 90’s – and this is a positive.  Malin has grown exponentially as a musician since his rock star beginnings, and this wealth of experience shapes the band’s comeback effort, Nothing Is Everywhere, as a cohesive and contemporarily relevant piece of work.

Attitude and guitar driven melody is the name of the game, with the band roaring back in full form for their opening track, “Queens of A.”  Howie Pryo’s unmistakably thunderous bass ushers in Malin’s melodic spoken word intro before erupting into a full blown guitar-driven rocker and the return of Malin’s more forceful punk driven persona.  The chorus melts into a smoothly delivered slice of alt-rock featuring the faint “ohh-ahh” of female accompaniment before erupting once more into a series of hard nosed solos and punchy riffs.  While the garage and grunge elements are certainly more dilute from previous efforts, the band maintains a certain level of grit absent from the majority of Malin’s solo work.  The dense delivery of “Don’t Believe” marks the farthest in that direction, with the chaotic, punked up upswing of “Militant” echoing a youthful sense of revolt from D Generation’s earlier years.  Even with a revised direction, the band reflects on their roots.

Generally, D Generation sticks to their gritty glam rock guns.  “Apocalypse Kids” enters anthemic, sing-along territory with a riff roaring chorus that finds Malin digging deep for inspiration as elements of piano and guitar swirl in a sound that’s every bit as foundational as it is enlivening.  The track thrives on an initially rich, scene setting description of “apocalypse kids up on suicide hill, watching the girls playing video games,” making for the type of vivid imagery typically reserved for The Hold Steady.  Other high points surface on tracks like the buoyant “Rich Kids,” dynamically ranging “Hatful of Rain,” and the swaggering rock n’ roll spirit of “Not Goin’ Back.”  When D Generation hits their groove, they really get the party started.

“We never broke up,” claims Malin when speaking of D Generation’s return – that sentiment seems to lie at the heart of Nothing Is Everywhere.  While time has certainly left its mark on D Generation, Nothing Is Everywhere plays out as tight and intentioned as any band that has weathered the years as a unit.  Nothing Is Everywhere is D Generation for returning fans and those of a new generation alike.