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Release date: October 2001
1. It's OK To Hate Me
2. Sunshine
3. Eyes Open Wide / available as streaming
video
4. Only The Grim Reaper / available as streaming
video
5. Little Lost Girl
6. Evi
7. The Kids Are Out Tonight
8. Giving Up / Caving In
9. Always Have And Always Will
10. Beauty Queen
11. Don't You Cry Over It
12. One Million Love Songs (This One's For You)
More info about The Apers:
Presspage
Homepage
Reviews:
Review taken from Vinyl A Go Go:
"It’s only rock ‘n’ roll, come on and have some
fun."-The Apers-The Kids Are Out Tonight
I’m just a big ass aren’t I? Six months ago I declared that,
if not already dead and buried, pop-punk as we once knew it, was at least
on the decline. I was well aware that Europe was rallying the troops,
but I’d still lost hope. Each time another pop-punk record came
out I shirked on my duties and passed it by on the record racks. Certainly
it couldn’t be any better than what was done from the mid-90’s
on. The truth is I was chicken-shit, too scared to admit that it was mostly
me who had changed. Sure, pop-punk wasn’t what it was in the mid-90’s,
but there was no reason for me to turn my back completely, especially
when so many others had already done so, which only served to fulfill
their prophecies and drive the nails further into the box. I started to
look elsewhere for my sugar-fix. If I heard a new pop-punk record it was
few and far between. I thought it had nothing more to offer me. I started
searching for more serious music, music that spoke about life on a deeper
level. What a dumb fucker I was. The Apers have single-handedly brought
me to my knees. I’m begging forgiveness guys. Let me back…I
swear I’ll be good this time.
The Apers first foray into the full-length land takes your stereo’s
speakers and lift’s them off the floor, flings them against the
opposite wall and slams them upside your eardrums. The production is over
the top, not too slick, just loud and crunchier than a bowl of peanut
brittle. Crank this thing to 11 and your heart will have some extra help
with it’s beating. The guitars tickle your ears (although you’ll
be backed against a wall while they do so, The Apers added a second guitarist
since we’ve last heard from them and it’s given them the fuller
sound the deserve), the bass pops and the drum shoot through your legs,
grab your feet and bounce them off the floor in a display of pure satisfaction.
Not since The Connie Dungs first full-length has a pop-punk album gotten
my panties in such a bunch. The first track, "It’s OK To Hate
Me," careens out of the stables much like the Dung’s album
in fact (forgoing the standard guitar intro and hitting you with the sneering,
nasally vocals first…which, by the way, is a great way to start
a pop-punk album), with Kevin Aper sounding like a more cantankerous,
piss and vinegar soaked Brandon Dung (if such a thing is in fact possible).
The song is quite the "fuck you because I’m going to do what
I want if you you don’t want me too,"anthem. Things sort of
cool down from there (in other words, there’s plenty of sappy, heart-wrenching,
love ballads), but it sets the album up quite nicely. The Apers have got
you by the aural balls from the third chord and if you like your music
like I like mine, you won’t mind one bit. This is pure ear candy.
Nothing more, nothing less. The Apers aren’t trying to change the
world. They don’t care about progression. They just want to play
rock and roll. And lucky for you and me they want to play it at manic
speeds, complete with more hooks than a honey-dipped pirate convention.
It’s pretty simple with this one. If you dig GOOD pop-punk, mid-90’s
Lookout and Mutant Pop pop-punk, pop-punk with one foot soaking in rock
and roll gasoline- the other standing in a flaming pit of saccharine sweet,
power-pop derived hooks and catchy choruses that will stay with you for
hours on end while you drudge through the wasteland that is life, then
you WILL dig The Apers. In fact I guarantee you’ll break the knob
on your piece of shit car stereo, trying to crank it louder, while going
about 90 down the interstate on your way to hang out with your friends
or spend a night necking with your sweetheart. If you don’t find
yourself pulling over to dance along the macadam then you’ll at
least grab a pack of pixie sticks and shove them in every available orifice
while banging your head repeatedly off of the steering wheel in an attempt
to simulate the aural experience of The Apers blasted pop-punk sonic attack.
If you want hits The Apers have em. We can squabble over this, but here’s
my picks in some sort of order: "Eyes Open Wide" (the new pop-punk
love anthem for the 00’s), "Evi" (the second longest song
on the album clocking in at 4:09 and worth every second…plus it’s
about a girl, which I dig to the utmost), "It’s OK To Hate
Me" (the fuck you anthem of ’01) "One Million Love Songs
(This One’s For You)" (The Apers know they aren’t being
original, this is their answer to the dilemma…a fine solution indeed,
try not to sing the chorus the second time around), and "Always Have
and Always Will" (it’s all about the chorus…). A short
list, but those are just my absolute favorites, the ones I find myself
singing in the shower as I make myself clean. It’s tough to pick
favorites, there’s not a dull moment on the disc.
If you like your music complicated, progressive, political, confounded,
polluted, advanced and accountable for making some sort of a positive
contribution to society or music history, then don’t bother ringing
The Apers bell, because they don’t care. If you don’t get
it then reread the quote at the top of the page and if that doesn’t
work email me, I’ll try to explain it to you… -- vinyl a go
go
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