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BANDS: Punk
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LOTD
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The Enablers:
Sweet Fuck All
Mr. Rob Coe, lead singer of Los Angeles The Enablers, has been e-mailing me for almost a year now. Hes been sending me demo mp3s to listen to and throwing me random complements, buttering me up for when he finally sent a release for review to Left Off The Dial. The ironic thing is that no buttering up was necessary for me to give this EP the positive review it deserves. Sweet Fuck All, the Enablers debut EP, sounds like it could have been released around 1992, right after alternative music broke and right before it spoiled. Think Dramarama, Social Distortion, and vocals with a growl like Steve Earle. The EP opens with its standout track, Tomorrow. This song is a rocker with a fairly simple punk chord progression, and its subject is a familiar one: unrequited love. But Coe manages to sing his song and tell his story in a way that grabs at your heart strings and yanks them, making you suffer right along next to him: I believe I ride on a lonesome train / A lonesome train on a lonesome track / She told me she was coming back / A lonesome train, lonesome track. As he spits out these opening lines, Coe sounds as if he is regurgitating his aged, wilted heart right through your speakers, guitars blaring in the background. Its a feat that such a simple song, so loud and rocking, can make you want to cry. The EP has 6 songs in all, and you get the feeling that together, they tell the story of one girl who decided to leave. Better Friend has Coe confessing: I know I couldve been a better friend / And I know I should have been listening to a slightly slower tune, reminiscent of the Replacements. On Dear Beer, he asks: Dear Beer / Can you say when? / Ill hear the telephone ring / And make her take me back. High and Outside is another punk song in which Coe wails that he doesnt want to be alone anymore. The Enablers play heart-on-sleeve, punk-based rock. Wait, isnt that the definition of emo? Well, believe it or not, the bands bassist has actually performed as part of Dashboard Confessional; but have no fear: the Enablers do not risk falling into the emo-wuss category. Sweet Fuck All is a respectable debut from a band that has already attracted the overseas attention of the UK-based label that released this EP. More attention closer to home seems likely to follow.
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