Kid You Not Bangs Out 10 Anthemic Punk Gems on New Album Here's To Feelin' Good All The Time
4.7 out of 5 stars
Kid You Not is a rock band out of Florida that has heavy punk influences, but doesn’t seem to be solely formed from a punk rock sound.
The band has been around since 2015, and they have released 3 albums before putting out their latest effort Here’s To Feelin’ Good All The Time (available as a co-release in different colors from Bypolar Records, Sell The Heart Records and Engineer Records for international orders).
The songs on this album are mostly uptempo, full of gang vocals, and dealing with everything from anxiety to relationships to social dysfunctions.
One of my favorite lines from the album comes on the very first song “I Am Who I Am, and I Wish I Weren’t” where lead singer Patrick Drury belts out, “Frustration and anxiety, I’d rather sleep it off. A story with the same old tired plot.”
The album from start to finish has an in your face sound that won’t allow you to passively listen to it without being sucked right back in at the start of every song, which, for me, is the sign of a great rock album.
Some of the influences of the band include Red City Radio and Hot Water Music which I can see being part of their sound, but I see other bands like The Copyrights and The Flatliners as a more fitting comparison, I think with the catchy hooks and sing along anthems of the band.
“Last of a Lost Generation” sort of has a BIT of a slower tempo to it, but as soon as that song ends, “First of a Dying Breed” comes in fast and furious to bring things right back up to speed.
For what it’s worth, the bass in “First of a Dying Breed” is a prime example of the sound I associate with a good bass sound in a punk album. Using a guitar pick to hit the low ends with a lot of vibration like a train coming the tracks, makes the bass smack with a bit of juice that I find to be quintessential for punk. I believe the same sound can be found throughout, but it seems to be pulled out most in this song.
“The Longer It Isn’t Us, The More It Will Happen” reminds me of the skate punk sound layered with a bit of hardcore vocals – very Hot Water Music, to me – but the song also has pieces that will remind listeners of bands like Blink-182 and Face to Face as well.
Keeping with some of the puns on common sayings in their song titles, the next track is called, “I’m Not Superstitious, But I Am a Little Stitious.” I feel like some of these are just meme names at this point, but I guess that’s as good of an inspiration for a song name as anything.
The song actually starts out with a pretty funny line which I assume came from the studio session where a member of the band is heard saying, “Okay, I got an idea. Why don’t you try playing it right?” which is followed by laughter.
Anyone who has ever recorded an album can definitely relate to that as seemingly once a producer or studio tech hits that “record” button something seems to shift in one’s ability to play a song the same as it has always been played after hundreds of run throughs.
“Fire Sale! Everything Must Go” is one of the only songs on the album that tries to bring the tempo down, and at this point in the album it is a pretty good idea as there have been like 5 straight songs of hammering the uptempo beats.
The variety is just enough to not drag things down or feel boring as well. It’s a nice compliment.
“Sounded Like a Good Idea At The Time” has an unexpected breakdown in the second half of the song that really drives home the anthem status of the song.
“Midlife Crisis Actor” is the only song that has a mellow tone throughout, but it is also only about 2 minutes long as it sort of feeds into the last song of the album.
Speaking of which, the title track “Here’s To Feelin’ Good All The Time” shows up at first with a bit of synth and chorus vocals, but then jumps into a frenzied fury of hopeful aggression mixed with optimistic lyrics in the face of a dire social situation.
I had not heard of Kid You Not before this album, but I will definitely be going back through their catalog to listen for more of this rad punk rock.