Dear Landlord – Dream Homes

The great thing about compilations is their ability to introduce you to new bands. No Idea’s recent compilation for The Fest 7 did just that and introduced me to countless bands that I had never known before and knew I needed to check out – one of those bands was Dear Landlords with their song Lake Ontario. It’s been a few months since I first heard that song but they are now here with their debut full length, Dream Homes, and they most definitely did not disappoint.

Featuring members of The Copyrights and Rivetheads, Dear Landlords obviously has that Ramones-core pop-punk sound embedded within their songs but they use that as only the foundation and build off it.  Using the power-chord pop-punk structure and pop sensibilities of The Ramones and Screeching Weasel, Dream Homes is a throwback to classic pop-punk but at the same time they round it off with bass heavy intensity of bands like Off With Their Heads and Dillinger Four which turns it into a new sound instead of just a rehashed song structure.

The songs are fast paced and soaked with beer drenched passion. Three gruff and alcohol-worn vocalists intertwine on top of one another creating a sense of harmony and melody. It’s a mid-western pop-punk sound merged with Gilman Street of the early nineties and it works; it works wonders.

The lyrics are self-deprecating but hopeful at the same time (another nod Off With Their heads or, in some cases, Jawbreaker). They’re often a rally-call for punks, a “fuck you” to the outsiders who don’t understand what they’re doing as they plainly lay it out saying “fuck you, this is my life, I’ll do what I want.” Three To The Beachproudly says what they’re doing while tracks like Begging for Tips and A World That We Never Made effortlessly points out the failures of the so-called “American dream” and nine to five jobs.

All of the songs are pointed but more intelligent than most, singing songs that tell the story of a life being lived the way they want to. Going on adventures, drinking with friends, living in a van and doing what they want without anyone telling them otherwise.

Take these punk-rock anthems and plaster them overtop of gruff vocals delicately shared between three vocalists, fast power chords, and quick punk-rock drum patterns and you have found yourself a soon-to-be classic pop-punk album. From the blistering opener of Live in Hell which basically forces you to sing along to the more melodically inclined Rosa to the straight forward and fantastic pop-punk song of Lake Ontario, Dream Homes is a nearly perfect record and one that will be heralded by critics come year end.