Review → Parasites – Solitary (2009)
Parasites - Solitary
My first exposure to Dave Parasite and his rotating cast of characters was on the recent Pop-Punk’s Not Dead! compilation he put together. It had the Ergs!, the Queers, Teenage Bottlerocket, the Unloveables, and of course, Parasites. As I got more and more into pop-punk, Parasites kept coming up, but I was too distracted by both scouring the classics (MTX! Sicko! Screeching Weasel!) and the new music coming from the pop-punk revival (The Ergs! Teenage Bottlerocket! The Sidekicks!).
So, finally, I grab their latest album and give it a listen.
This is some fine music here, let me tell you. It’s super poppy; the punk aspect is more downplayed at this stage of their career. It’s not gonna show up on the radio, ’cause I don’t think the mainstream kids are into 12 straightforward pop-with-distortion songs about girls.
But if they were, this would do it.
Dave’s voice is smooth and the songs are all midtempo tunes that might not get a circle pit going, but was certainly bring about some pointing and pushing back and forth in a pit. Particularly when the band gets a bit louder on songs like “So Wanna Kiss You,” “All the Time in the World,” “Hanging Around,” and particularly “Gonna Get You Back.” On that last song, the music takes a more aggressive, brooding turn as Dave states his intent to reclaim the girl who left him. Great song, and breaks up the album well on side B.
I’d say the main downside of the album is that some of the songs seem like pop-punk-by-numbers. Sure, it’s excellently executed, but there’s not a lot separating this from the pack of what one typically thinks of. If you’re looking for a band that really switches up the formula, you’re probably better off with a newer band like the Ergs!. But if you just want those summery pop gems as played in a garage, you could do a lot worse.
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