Debut Album by Urethane Shows Why These Punk Vets Are Building Something Great While Chasing Horizons
4.6 out of 5 stars
I have to admit that there was a little skepticism that I had when I first heard about this band, and that’s only because I am a cynic by nature.
I kept seeing people talking about the new band from former professional skateboarding legend Steve Caballero (you probably played as him on Tony Hawk Pro Skater). I didn’t really think much of it, because usually when people crossover from one thing to another, they aren’t really making the next career as great as the first. That's not to say ANYTHING about him, because I always thought he was a rad skater and cool dude.
Of course, had I been paying attention, I would have known that Caballero has been in several bands in the California punk scene for decades. I guess I just can’t know everything about everything.
When I finally got over my resistance, I sat down and listened to Chasing Horizons by Urethane, and realized I was not only absolutely wrong for thinking it wasn’t going to be good, but it is actually a fucking rad album that I was blown away by.
It smacks of pop-punk acts like Alkaline Trio, (Cyber Tracks label-mates) Unwritten Law and Face to Face in a lot of ways.
The band’s lineup is full of punk rock veterans as well led by Tim Fennelly (War Fever) on guitar and vocals. Caballero is the other guitar player in the band, and the band is filled out with Chad Ruiz (Skipjack) on bass and Dylan Wade (The BombPops) on drums.
The album rocks from front to back, and the songs “Wyoming” and “Gravity” are the two lead singles that have generated a lot of buzz, and their music videos are pretty cool as well.
They also recruited some punk rock royalty to guest on some vocals by bring Jim Lindberg from Pennywise onto “Inheritance” and Toby Morse from H2O onto "Avalanches" (which was a song previously done by Fennelly as an acoustic solo song on his split EP with Jonny Cuz that you can check out here).
I will 100% recommend checking out this album, and if you like that turn of the century punk sound like I do, I think you will truly enjoy this album, and I believe that Tim Fennelly is a true hidden treasure amongst punk-rock singer songwriters.
I think with songs like “What Becomes Of Us” and the aforementioned “Avalanches” it is obvious why this band and this album works so well.
The whole band is so technical and talented that there is no damn wonder there was so much buzz about the band. I will respect the buzz more often from now on.