SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MUSTARD PLUG – WHERE DID ALL MY FRIENDS GO?

MUSTARD PLUG
WHERE DID ALL MY FRIENDS GO?
BAD TIME RECORDS

At a time when ska goliaths like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish have disappeared into the ether, it’s a welcome shot in the arm for the ska scene that Mustard Plug return with their own particular brand of horn-based fun. The fun starts early too, as Where Did All My Friends Go?’s title track is riotously propelled along by Greg Witulski’s bouncing bassline and sticks in your head long after the song fades out.

The album is a classic third-wave ska punk album – one big sugar high.  This brings its limitations, as it’d be true to say that Where Did All My Friends Go? suffers from something a lot of ska albums do in its repetitious nature. Having said that, sometimes two things can be true – no new ground is broken here, and the album is as on-rails as it gets (the surprising thrash of “Distraction” aside), but then, so are rollercoasters, and they’re great fun too.

This contradiction makes it hard to score as an album and piece of art, but sometimes, in a cloying world where bad news lurks around every corner, it’s sometimes good just to have fun, skank away, and forget your troubles. My closing advice would be to get down and see these guys live, as the sheer energy of Where Did All My Friends Go? suggests that you might just have the dance of your life.

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