Musings of a Punk Rock Father

The Bronx – “The Bronx” White Drugs / Ferret Records 2003

I first heard the Bronx on a compilation a friend from work made me. It featured bands like Bane, Strongarm, Evergreen Terrace and Suicide File. He included the Bronx’s “They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)”, and I kept skipping back to listen to it again and again.

A few months later, I received a gift card from work. One of those MasterCard debit cards that you can allegedly use anywhere. And I happened to be at Best Buy, where I saw the Bronx’s self-titled album. My friend Kyle was with me, and they had a special wherein if you buy one CD you get a $4 off of a second CD. So he picked up one of Johnny Cash’s American Recordings CDs.

Up at the cash register, I attempted to use my gift card. I had already used it once, buying a burger from a fast food joint. As the cashier swipes the card, he asks how much is left on it.

“I don’t know, you tell me,” I said.

“I don’t know either, you need to tell me how much is on it.”

“I have to tell you how much is on it before I can use it?”

“Yep”

I didn’t know how much was left on it. So I tried calling the 800 number on the back. They were closed. I didn’t have any other money, so I had to leave the CDs there. I tried the 800 number later, and got someone’s voicemail, so I left a message. He returned my call a day or two later, and told me that yes, in order to use the card, I had to keep track for the cashier how much money was left on it. Lame.

Anyhow, Kyle later sent me the CD that I had so badly wanted on that day. The Bronx.

This is such a killer album. The guitars are fast and energetic. The vocals are a yell bordering on a scream, sounding like vocalist Matt Caughthran is about to lose his voice. Everything about this album makes me want to start jumping around. Listening to it in my car makes that a little difficult to do, but it works well at getting me amped up for the day.

The opening track, “Heart Attack American”, kick starts the fury of the album which does not dissipate until the final track, “Strobe Life”, which slows the music down a bit, but not the intensity. “I’m dependent on a generator,” Caughthran wails in “Strobe Life”, “just to breathe in air.” He continues, “Medication / Medication / Signatures and stares / Watching all the lights come down / Never wanting to care,” painting a bleak picture of a hospital patient.

The Bronx fit in with what Electric Frankenstein guitarist Sal Canzionieri dubbed “High Energy Rock n’ Roll”. They don’t often seem to connect with that group of bands, which includes EF, the Dragons, the Candy Snatchers and the Supersuckers, among others, but their sound and attitude are similar. If you are a fan of hardcore, punk rock or harder rock n’ roll, pick up the Bronx.