Bit Lip, the newest punk band out of Moncton, may have made a quiet debut at the end of August, but their album is anything but. The self-titled release came out August 31st, 2017 and we’ve been dancing to it ever since.
This album brings out instant flashbacks to being a snotty punk in junior high school and cranking the Punk-O-Rama compilation albums that were put out by Epitaph Records in the 90s. We mean this in the best way possible. Bit Lip would fit in perfectly on there somewhere between The Bouncing Souls and All.
The band clearly know what they’re going for and they do it well. No-frills, guitar-driven pop punk songs with catchy sing-along choruses and gang vocal earworms galore are packed into this quick listen. The total runtime of the album is around sixteen minutes, leaving it short, sweet, and with no time for much of anything else. All excess fat has been trimmed and the goal is very focused and on point.
‘Hey You’ is an upbeat banger that starts the party off right. Reminiscent of ‘Hello Rockview’ era Less Than Jake, it sets the tone for the seven following anthems. ‘Chasing Shooting Stars’ and ‘You Need A Lesson’ are both highlights; you’ll find yourself humming the melodies even after some time away from them. ‘Zombie Love’ also stands out as the band face down the perennial challenge of singing about zombies in a romantic, yet plausible context (trust us, it’s a thing).
The production here, courtesy of Ross Cole of Slanted Glass Productions, is crisp and clear without being overly polished, which suits these songs perfectly in their raw form and keeps the album feeling live and loose. Lets hope Bit Lip stick to writing pop punk party anthems and don’t go through a Beatle-esque experimental phase. And to answer your question, Bit Lip: yeah, it was pretty good