The Queers – Munki Brain

The Queers are one of those bands that I know so little about but want to know so much about. Other than the odd song here or there, I haven’t really heard much by the band; and I even missed them when they came through town a year or two ago (something I’ll regret for a while I’m sure). So to say I know a lot about the band would be a blatant lie, but I do know that what I’ve heard from them I really like andMunki Brain is no exception.

For the odd few people who know less about The Queers than I do, let me recap for a moment. The Queers are an old pop-punk band who prove time and time again that pop-punk’s not dead. Merging the simplicity of The Ramones with the beach-flair style of The Beach Boys, the trio from New Hampshire create an straight forward, energetic, simple and catchy pop-punk song. The songs follow your simple verse-chorus-verse pattern without becoming boring and they sing about the same thing every pop-punk act sings about: girls.

On Munki Brain the band rarely deviates from that course of action, and it works perfectly because it’s sincere and honest. They aren’t trying to be something they aren’t and it comes through on the recording. Of course, they do switch up the momentum just enough to keep the listener full engaged. What Ever Happened To Filthy Phil is a more straight up punk rock song with a distorted guitar riff threaded through the backbone, I Think She’s Starting To Like Me is a piano driven pop-punk track while Monkey In A Suit is a harsher, politically driven track. Mixed in between all of those are songs like the catchy sing-along Houston, We Have A Problem and the incredibly catchy I’m A Fool all with Joe Queer’s signature nasally vocals topping it off.

Suffice to say, Munki Brain is a wonderful pop-punk album. The songs are fun, catchy and sincere, sweet and innocent. And from what I’ve heard about the band, once you’ve heard one Queers song you’ve heard the basic foundation for them all; so if you’ve liked anything by the band in the past then you’ll like this too. This is a must-have for pop-punk fans, and one of the better releases from 2007 thus far.