Wasted Life – It Means Nuthin When You’re Dead

Having been born and bred on the lower working class streets and alleyways of Stoke-On-Trent, UK punk and Oi! act Wasted Life sing about what they know: poverty and social injustice.  And based on their rough and tough exterior I wouldn’t be surprised to learn about their own down and out challenges.  I imagine these guys cope with hardship or insult with fists clenched and broken bottles raised – don’t be stepping on their turf or you may not leave in one piece.  That they share so many similarities to the ever-prideful working class champions The Business comes as a given.

Wasted Life’s current activism comes in the form of It Means Nuthin When Your Dead, twelve tracks of pub-friendly, fist-pumping tunes about a crumbling world.  Vocalist “JJ” barks up a storm as he belts relentlessly from the depths of his throat.  His gravelly call gets the job done but doesn’t offer much staying power (he’s steady to a fault).  Shallow might be a better descriptor, especially when compared with the North American norm set by The Dropkick Murphys or Street Dogs.  That being said, I’d take JJ over the likes of Murderer’s Row any day.

Still, JJ can be distracting, and his all-or-nothing delivery often detracts from the message the band so feverously takes on.  Take for instance “Deprivation;” it’s somewhat of an angry eulogy for Stoke-On-Trent, with references to pottery (once the region’s biggest export), jobless streets and boarded up houses.  Reading the lyric sheet provides astonishing clarity and insight, but the rattling pace and steadfast tempo never gives listeners time to stop and think.  The song plays out without cues or prompts to challenge listeners’ thinking or to incite the change implied by Wasted Life’s very existence.  While I understand that the band is angry, their anger is unproductive in such high doses.

The remainder of the album plays out in a similar vain, with plenty of wasted opportunities dampening otherwise sharp social critiques.  It Means Nuthin When You’re Dead attempts to stand in big shoes but ultimately picks the wrong size.  The result is in the low-average range for Oi!, so unless you’re a regional enthusiast, this one might be best left for the locals.