The Hung Ups – Dawn of the Deadbeats

When I heard The Hung Ups’ debut self-titled album last year, I was thoroughly pleased with the results. There was nothing overly exceptional about the album but man was it fun. Solid, fast, snotty pop-punk pushed the short album into my ear canals repeatedly.

Based on that, I went into Dawn of the Deadbeats – the band’s follow-up – with high hopes and was faced with an album that both met and missed those hopes.

Like its predecessor, Dawn of the Deadbeats is a fast, snotty pop-punk record. A garage-punk recording quality, with nasally vocals and a feel that is the furthest thing from Phil Specter’s Wall Of Sound imaginable, The Hung Ups have once again delved into the realms of the pop-punk greats to deliver an album that tips its hat to the likes of Blink 182 (Cheshire Cat era), Screeching Weasel, Descendentsand Friends of Friends.

All of this makes for a fun filled album. One that gets your tapping your foot and throwing your fist in the air as you down that warm Pabst Blue Ribbon in some dive bar somewhere. It’s a throw back to the mid-nineties heyday of the pop-punk sound with a heavy emphasis on the SoCal sound that pushed it forward. There’s some impressive bass lines; like on NYC which also has a fantastic female guest vocalist and chugging guitar chords that makes it akin to The Ergs meets The New Dress. Teenage Politics reminds me of MXPX and not just because of the name; Beautiful slows it down and emphasizes the guitar riffs while Stranger to Sobriety has a heavier/darker tone going through it. Donkey Lips is the song The Copyrights never wrote and the whole album works as an underground pop-punk album.

All that meets my expectations, where they fell short is the simple fact that this was exactly what I was expecting. There are no surprises here whereas their self-titled debut came out of nowhere and thoroughly impressed me with their straight-forward pop-punk; on their follow-up, I needed a bit more than what they delivered. And where their debut succeeded in part due to its brevity, Dawn of the Deadbeats lags a bit with fourteen songs. There may never be a song more than two minutes in length; but as a cohesive whole, it still feels too long and would’ve been stronger with one or two fewer tracks.

Still, for those craving a fast paced, sarcastic pop-punk treat – The Hung Ups are there to fulfill that need.