Miss the glory days of skatepunk? This Merseyside crew have just what you need!
Ohhhh yes! If, like us, you fondly remember the late 90s/early 00s skatepunk and melodic hardcore boom, then stuff this debut album from Reason To Leave in your pipe, and smoke it. The Merseyside quartet originally formed back in 2020, and since then have become a hard-gigging machine; no wonder they sound so tight on ‘Live Laugh Leave’. Think along the lines of Pennywise, Bad Religion, H20, and even a dash of ‘Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes’-era Propagandhi, and you’ll have a rough idea of where the band sit musically and lyrically.
Fiercely socially and politically aware, they hit the ground running with ‘Made Up My Mind’, which sees the band take a look at the world around them and vent their displeasure over an addictive melody and breakneck-speed drumming. It sets the tone for much of the record; it’s not hard to guess who the righteous anger of ‘Grifters’, with its unexpectedly groovy mid-section, is aimed at. We especially like the nimble fingered riffing on ‘Desperate Measures’ (there are the aforementioned echoes of Propagandhi), and the utterly relentless pace of ‘Treading Water’ – you can imagine an impressive circle pit for this one.
Elsewhere, they lean especially hard on their hardcore influences for ‘Erased’ and ‘Bite Back’; the former featuring a breakdown of sorts and some great gang vocals, and the latter riding in on an ominous, bass-led intro before exploding into life with a yell of “No happy endings/Everybody dies”. They’re probably the most vitriolic tracks on offer here, and show a side of the band that we’d love to hear more of, should they decide to explore it.
We also mentioned Bad Religion earlier; well, the chorus alone of ‘Turn The Tide‘ would probably have Greg Graffin’s crew furious for not having written it themselves. And just when you think they have no more surprises up their sleeve, ‘Silent Town’ starts off with a plaintive piano intro, then builds to a typically anthemic chorus before that piano cuts in again one more time for ‘Reprise’, ending the record on a somewhat eerie note. Hey, this is unsettling music for unsettling times.
At thirteen songs in 26 minutes, ‘Live Laugh Leave’ is brief but highly effective, and in terms of standard-bearers for a conscious skatepunk revival, Reason To Leave do a better job than most. Follow them closely – we certainly will.
‘Live Laugh Leave’ is released on 23rd October – pre-order it HERE.
Both Photos: RICHARD LARDNER
Artwork: RON BLANCO
- Made Up My Mind
- Grifters
- Curtain Call
- Desperate Measures
- Erased
- Bite Back
- Sign Of The Times
- Turn The Tide
- See It Through
- Treading Water
- Looking Back
- Silent Town
- Reprise
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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