Skip to content
What’s up Sorry Staters?
It feels like I was writing one of these just a few days ago. Well really… I guess I was? October was a crazy month. Dom was gone and visiting his family in England for a while. Sorry State’s 10-Year Anniversary came and went like a spontaneous combustion. And at the time that I’m writing this, Usman is still driving Golpe and Electric Chair on tour. I’m not even sure what day he’s returning to Raleigh.
The celebration of all things Halloween is behind us. I think I feel sad about that a little bit. I’m still a bit fried from once again making the trek up to Richmond. Public Acid played a show on Halloween night. Even for a Tuesday, I was overwhelmed by how many people showed up to this gig. Most people didn’t even recognize me… Let me explain: first of all, I guess with my poofy hair hidden, no one knew who the fuck I was while in costume, let alone the fact that I was clearly dressed as Captain Sensible. A few homies knew who I was dressed as immediately, but one friend asked me what my costume was, and then said, “Too deep a reference.” For real? Not in my universe. I was under the impression most people at a punk show would be familiar with The Damned. Whatever. I’ll be honest. I left the Halloween gig in Richmond not in the best mood. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe it’s because while I was surrounded by friends, I didn’t feel like I got to spend enough time enjoying their company because the event was just too oversaturated. Maybe I had some internal emotions I wasn’t addressing while in the midst of trying to force myself to be in the Halloween spirit and party sufficiently. Who knows? Anyway, as Wayne Campbell would say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to dump on ya.”
I will say that nothing makes me happier than accidentally stumbling into a record I used to love, revisiting it, and getting stoked all over again. A little blast of nostalgia never hurt anyone, but then it’s also a cool feeling to think to yourself, “Damn, this still rules.” In this case, I’m talking about the debut LP by The Briefs, Hit After Hit. What an appropriately titled record. This record originally came out in the year 2000 on Dirtnap. But along with many of the reissues we stock from Radiation, this record was repressed in this lord’s year 2023 on German imprint Wanda Records. Was this LP out of print for a long time? Sure seems like it to me. Maybe there was some other reissue in the 2010s? I dunno.
Personally, I first discovered The Briefs from when the opening track on this record and all-time banger “Poor and Weird” was featured as the song for Patrick Melcher’s part in the skate video Blackout from Black Label. Amazing skate video, which made an indelible mark on me as a young teenager. I mean, it was also the first time I heard “Waiting For the Blackout” by The Damned – but I digress. Patrick Melcher was a ripper, but more than that, the tune during his video part always gripped me. As a young punker in-training, I remember thinking, “who is this band?” Those pounding drums in the intro, and in a Ramones-esque fashion, the song opens with the repeated chant, which goes: “I’m poor and I’m weird, baby. You got no time for me.” I was hooked.
Immediately fun and energetic, there was something about The Briefs that was so infectious upon my first listen. And then lyrically, it was clear that these dudes didn’t take themselves too seriously and had a warped sense of humor. There’s a line from that same seminal track “Poor Weird,” that at one point says something like, “I see a little purple man disappearing in the street.” What drugs are you taking, bud? Call them KBD-influenced. Ramones? Buzzcocks? Whatever you’re thinking, it’s all down strokes and all badass. The band is a bit quirky and a bit silly. In some ways, the zany, snotty and slightly over-the-top vocal approach of main lead singer Steve E. Nix (again, hilarious) always reminded me a lot of Leonard Phillips from The Dickies. All things melodic, catchy, and full of attitude find themselves somewhere in The Briefs’ formula. I guess you could bill them as “pop punk,” but to me The Briefs don’t come across as sickeningly pop punk sounding as say Screeching Weasel or The Queers or bands of that ilk. The band has much more of that ’77 rock’n’roll punk edge.
If you want the quintessential looking cool and yet silly wearing sunglasses and leather jackets type of punk, then look no further. In terms of presentation, The Briefs incorporate a bit of that 70s pop art flair, which I totally dig. I tried my best to look the part in my staff pick photo above haha. But when I was revisiting this record, what struck me is how great the songwriting is. Song after song, The Briefs know how to write some killer hooks. To the point where I was thinking about this record coming out in 2000 and thought to myself… “Wow, current bands don’t write songs like this anymore.” As I mentioned before, “Poor and Weird” is an amazing opening track. The 2nd track “Run The Other Way” has these vocal inflections where my dude doesn’t just sing a word like “eyes” as just one syllable… Oh no, it’s “eye-ah-ah-ah-eyeees.” So awesome. “Gimme gimme danger, gimme something I can talk about.” I believe I personally identify with this message on a regular basis. Then next up is “Silver Bullet.” You know the Silver Bullet Band? Well, The Briefs would rather take a bullet and “Kill Bob Seger right now!” A beautiful proclamation. I also identify with this message. Someone’s probably gonna be like, “Dude, Bob Seger System is a good record. Yeah sure, whatever. But “that old time rock’n’roll is something we could do without.” The next song slows the tempo down a bit and I find myself immediately singing along: “Rotten rotten luh-uh-ove.” And as you keep listening to the record, the hits just KEEPS COMING LIKE THAT. The whole record is insanely catchy. A few of the tracks ramp up the tempo from driving Ramones pace to damn-near hardcore speed on songs like “Sylvia” and “Big Dog.” Then the final track on the record is a 30-second sing-along. Dalai Lama? Dolly Parton? What’s the difference, right?
A beautiful balance of clever, yet irreverent lyrics and amazingly catchy and hooky songwriting. Real punk. Yeah, I said it. What more could you ask for? I think you need to jam some Briefs. Scoop one of these reissues before they’re all gone.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got this week. It’s fuckin’ cold in my apartment. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff