The Interrupters – 'In The Wild'

Now don’t flick to the next thing because you saw the words ‘Ska’ and ‘Punk’ with only a hyphen to separate them. This is a genre of music with a rich history of songs of protest, rebellion, acceptance and standing together. When The Interrupters do Ska-Punk it isn’t jokey comedy songs, this is authentic.

I only got into the band recently when a spell of COVID left me bed bound. I decided it was a suitable time check out Spotify’s recommended albums for me. The Interrupters 2018 album, ‘Fight the Good Fight’ was one of those albums. It caught my ear immediately and that doesn’t happen often these days.

Ironically, with ‘In the Wild’ changes are afoot in the camp all because of the COVID pandemic. The first hit came when Green Day’ cancelled the ‘Hella Mega Tour.’ Then, because of pandemic restrictions, Tim Armstrong had to step away from the producer’s chair. The Rancid lead singer had produced the band’s first three albums. Isolating together, with time on their hands the band set out to create their fourth album. Guitarist Kevin Bivona added the producer’s tag to his lead guitarist one becoming in his own words ‘the accountable one.’

The production change is the first one that you notice. Kevin Bivona has given the band a much beefier sound. Where Tim Armstrong kept things simple with very few overdubs apparent Bivona has layered on vocals, guitars and introduced a wider range of instrumentation. All these changes simply amplify the bounce and energy in the music.

So, why are The Interrupters so good? Star power. In lyricist and lead vocalist Aimee Interrupter they have that in abundance. Aimee’s a one-woman dynamo with a gritty throaty delivery. Think Joan Jett fronting Green Day and you’ll be someway there, but nowhere close.

Here we have the second big leap forward. Aimee’s lyrics have always come from the heart and here she mines her own past, albeit with the usual amounts of artistic licence, think of a Ska-Punk Springsteen. On this album you get the feeling that the lyrics go closer to the heart of her own life. By all accounts that I’ve read she had a troubled time growing up and suffered from severe social anxiety and depression. Listening to the lyrics here there is a dark shadow of abuse running under things too. There’s a line in the opening tacks ‘Anything was Better’ that goes, ‘anything was better than where I was from', which is the first hint of how personal these songs are to her. She doubles down on it all in ‘Jailbird,’ where she sings about her battles with anxiety and depression.

Now before you all go thinking this is soul destroying depressing stuff hold on. This is a woman singing about her past in a comparable way to how Beth McDonald did on the recent Beth Blade and The Beautiful Disasters album, ‘Mythos, Confession Tragedies and Love.’ This is a triumphant scream that she survived it all and she’s still standing. It’s right there in track two on the album ‘As We Live’ in the line ‘as long as I’m breathing, I’m renewing.’

Musically the band are in fine form. Aimee aside the music comes as always from the three Bivona brothers. Kevin on guitar, Justin on bass and Jesse pounding out the drums. However dark Aimee may want to take the bank lyrically the Bivona brothers will back those lyrics to tunes that rock, skank, swagger, and roll.

And those are not musical terms thrown in for a clever line. Amongst the Ska-Punk you’ll find hints of 60s girl bands (‘Daisy’), the old school ska of ‘Burdens’ (featuring members of Hepcat), and even time to finish up with a power ballad (‘Alien’).

Favourite tracks right now are ‘Jailbird,’ ‘Raised by Wolves,’ ‘Let ‘Em Go,’ and ‘Anything was better.’

If you’re not yet convinced that The Interrupters are authentic, consider this: The legendary Rhoda Dakar from The Bodysnatchers pops in a guest vocal on ‘As We Live.’ That’s not a bad indication of how seriously we should take this band.

It might have been a long time since there was a legitimate Ska-Punk band to hail as anything more than a novelty act. We should be hailing The Interrupters as the real thing.