Bowling For Soup- Sorry For Partyin’

****

With seven albums already under their belt, many questioned whether Bowling For Soup would serve us anything we hadn’t heard before. Whilst it’s obvious from first listen that Sorry For Partyin’ doesn’t mark a new direction for the band, it’s certainly anything but recycled material from their fourteen year career. What it does manage to do is consolidate exactly what fans adore about Bowling For Soup into a neat one-hour package, showing glimpses of maturity for a band that prides itself on being immature.

Not doing much to relinquish the lazy tag of “That Joke Band”, there are plenty of laugh-a-minute tracks, explaining just why Bowling For Soup are synonymous with having a good time. Opener ‘A Really Cool Dance Song’ acts as a scathing parody on the current music scene, resulting in an effort better than the majority of the bands they’re mocking. Catchy enough to be embraced by the drunken masses and for anyone else who doesn’t get the joke. Up next is ‘No Hablos Ingles’, a hilarious slice of sing-along sunshine pop punk, showcasing exactly how good a ‘novelty song’ can be. Typical BFS ground is lovingly trodden, with odes being sung to Beer and Penis alike, with ‘Hooray For Beer’ and joyously mirthful single ‘My Wena’ both satisfying the three-year gap from the band’s last effort.

It comes as no surprise that a band extolled for their witticisms and harbingers of bromance, hijinks and having fun are deft-handed at writing a comical three-minute ditty. The surprise comes from the ease in which the band navigates the deeper subject matter and the fact that there are clever and knowing lyrics hidden behind the jovial exterior. The soulful pseudo-ballad ‘Me With No You’ might just be the best song this band have ever written, emitting just enough emotion to smack you into the chest without treading into the dangerous slush-schmaltz territory that so many bands fall into. Beneath the expected song fare are some unexpected surprises, the Sugar Ray-esque ‘I Gotchoo’ is an eulogy to 90’s pop-rock, sunnier than a trip to the Equator and laced with a Motley Crue-inspired metal breakdown; it is perhaps the most bizarre song of the year and an undeniably guilty-pleasure. Equally as unexpected is the politically-charged ‘America (Wake Up Amy)’, showing that you don’t have to create an American Idiot-sized epic to give a subtle middle finger to the current state of affairs.

The only blotch on an otherwise flawless slate is that someone felt the need to shove two perfectly good and album-worthy songs into the dark depths of the bonus track list. Surely if Bowling For Soup can transcend what it means to be a light-hearted pop punk band, then they can manage a 17-track album without fear of reprimand? Despite the minor gripe, Sorry For Partyin’ showcases just how much depth, creativity and passion a so-called novelty band can have, so much so that if you still pin any band that dares to have a sense of humour as a joke then it will firmly be on you.