Dollar Signs – This Will Haunt Me

Charlotte, North Carolina scrappy-punk heroes Dollar Signs write snarky, tongue-in-cheek anthems for those seeking refuge from the robot’s of everyday radio.  Armed with unconventionally tuneful pop-punk and a knack for pulling back society’s curtain, the quintet is tasked with presenting their uncensored view of the world, warts and all.  Their latest full length, This Will Haunt Me, will find an instant audience with fans of Direct Hit!, AJJ, Elway, and anyone willing to turn their back on societal norms and conventions.  

 The band takes full advantage of it’s unhinged musical mandate over the eleven track runtime.  Aging less than gracefully and struggling to remain relevant seems to be a loose central theme; and the band does a fine job in the process.  Tracks like “Til’ Death” take a Direct Hit! inspired sense of discord and meld it with a horn blasting chorus to set the scene for a protagonist that only ever says “I do” for drinks at weddings.  Meanwhile, “Shallow Pop Songs” highlights procrastination as Button declares his title as “the Usain Bolt of running from my problems.”  Meanwhile, the title track channels a sort of reduced tempo, comedically spun, Ezra Kire-esque woe-is-me piano ballad, and “Sadderday” speaks of the lifetime of weekend work that follows paying off loans with credit cards.

 But perhaps the most emblematic of Dollar Signs’ mission is nestled towards the back of the album in “The Devil Wears Flannel.”  The track opens with front man Erik Button coming to terms with the realization that his career is on a one way trip to nowheresville.  He sings, “everything I wanna say has been said in better ways,” and that, “I don’t make art, I just complain, complain, complain.”  Not long after, Button describes learning that the devil lives in Brooklyn, at which point he books a show in the devil’s venue to seek counsel on making it big in the music biz.  The band swaps vocalists and turns down the backdrop, setting the scene for the calm, cool and manipulative monologue one would expect from a smooth talking beelzebub.  “I’ve helped The Beatles, Jeff Buckley, Mozart, Maroon 5, just play this song, and they’ll love you while your still alive,” promises the devil, at which point the band starts playing what could be argued is a universal parody to any radio hit.  But rather than accept the devil’s gift of sure fame, Button opts to continue telling off kilter tales of “the human experience,” rather than capitulate to soulless love songs.  “The Devil Wears Flannel” is an important mission statement for Dollar Signs as they uphold these ideals throughout This Will Haunt Me’s dominant themes.

This Will Haunt Me is sure to help an audience of aging punks come to terms with getting old.  Not “old” per se, but old enough to question whether they should really still be listening to a band like Dollar Signs whilst sharing an office with a spineless divorcee that only talks baseball statistics (see: “UGGGhhh”).  Thankfully, Dollar Signs assures us that you’re never too old or too deep into the 9 to 5 to poke fun at your life and those around you.  *Poke*