Money In The Banana Stand – There’s Always

Even before hearing a note from Charlottetown quartet Money In The Banana Stand, I was rooting for them.  I love it when bands light heartedly set themselves up a career of fun, and it’s hard imagining a group kicking off with a more amusing name and title interplay.  Place their debut’s grammatically incomplete title, There’s Always, in front of their name and it’s sure to raise a chuckle – and just think of the potential for future releases (It’s kind of like what Fat Mike does with Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, but better).

In any case, I wouldn’t balk on about a name without something backing it up, so as should be clear, there’s some good substance behind the humour.  Musically, the group likens themselves to Propaghandi and Against Me!, but shares a little more in delivery with lesser known and more poppy DIY acts The Holy Mess and Campaign.  There’s certainly a hint of Tom Gabel’s ramblings and Propaghandi’s humanitarianism, but by and large this is punk to mosh awkwardly with and sing off key to.

There’s Always’ twelve tracks make for an energetic spread and entertaining listen.  Coated with a very DIY production, the vocals could probably use a little punch in the mastering department, but get by pretty well on passion alone.  There’s a good hint of wiry folk punk as per Definace, Ohio, and a solid dose of speed as per Andrew Jackson Jihad.  Along those lines, their rawness largely authenticates their message.  For example, take the humerously titled human-interest piece “Genghis Kahn Wouldn’t Shop At Wal-Mart,” where they angrily grapple with reconciling facilitators of true injustice (i.e. sweat shop labour) with elitist counter culture’s (ie. lifestyle vegetarians) selective interests, proclaiming that “if these are the people who make it to heaven, I think I’d be happier in hell.”

Throughout the remainder of the tracks this group of small town twenty-somethings survey exciting tempos and sounds.  For example, “New Fraternity” features an explosion of individually standing buzz sawing gang vocals amongst the band’s three vocal contributors, “Men” serves as an intermission that spills over into the jazzy, Richard Cheese-like intro of the very tong-in-cheek “Wave (Goodbye To The Tough-Guys),” accenting the following technical, Wilhelm Scream style guitar burst, and borderline thrashy “Laughing All The Way To The Bank,” which just gets crazy.

When all is said and done, the line “if my band were to make it, we’d still be 8000 dollars in debt and have a quarter of a math degree” sums up Money In The Banana Stand succinctly.  These are guys who know There’s Always isn’t going to change lives, but will likely make their own pretty neat.  At the very least the album should get the attention of some likeminded fans, and lead to sharing the stage with some great underground talent.  A promising start from a bunch of undoubtedly great, down to earth guys.