Community Pools- Clown Shoes

Community Pools- Clown Shoes EP

Ok, so as to quickly announce this and get it into writing (the whole reason I started this blog was to honestly evaluate the music I listen to) let me say that I am not the biggest fan of this particular brand of pop punk. Sloppy, hyper honest pop punk, 90's throwback meets early Plan-It-X kind of stuff; early Lookout Records stuff, Carrie Nations, etc. There was a point in time where I would have bashed it in fact. But with a little context over the years and after seeing some proper pop punk shows, my opinion on this type of stuff has significantly improved over time.

These guys, who are from Oklahoma City, played sort of an overall bummer of a show in Cincinnati a while back (not their fault, just poorly promoted etc.) and I hung out with them a bit. Really good guys, which doesn't always translate into the music but with them, it totally did. They're a couple of guys who are good friends who play in a pop punk band together and obviously really care about the songs that they write and the whole idea of touring, and that alone is pretty much enough to win me over. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Also, Taylor Vinson, the guitar player, totally impressed me with his guitar playing. Dude is a shredder, and was of course insanely modest about it. Jerry and Ryan, drums and bass respectively, also hold down a solid pop punk rhythm section. Anyways, on to this EP, titled "Clown Shoes."

I wish the production of this EP was better-- the snare drum is kind of weak, the bass guitar is sort of nonexistent, and the recording lacks low end. But those are all just nit picky things. My best friend is a recording engineer, what do you expect? 

Point is it didn't change my mind on this kind of pop punk. Not sure anything will. Something about it is just impossible for me to fall in love with. 

But there's a lot of good stuff going on here. The EP features a pretty awesome cover of "48 Double Stack" by Rivethead. Honestly think I like the Community Pools version more. "Fucking Clown Shoes," features a pretty good call and response chorus and kind of an addictive guitar hook, and "Dude Bro Extermination Squad" has the feeling of an early Thermals track, it's pretty rad. Honestly these dudes are pretty good songwriters, and they play really well together.

So take my overall opinion of this with the proper grain of salt, because it's not really my bag. But I'd venture to guess if you were in Oklahoma City and drank a few beers with these guys and then saw them shred through a set you'd probably have a really awesome time.

You can download the EP for free here.