In case you weren’t already aware, Black Lungs is basically Wade McNeil – frontman of post-hardcore legends Alexisonfire – with a little help from his friends. A prolific songwriter, he found himself with loads of songs that he felt didn’t fit with his main band and started a side-project to showcase them. If they’re all as good as the tracks on Send Flowers, I’d have no problems with seeing him leave Alexisonfire behind permanently – this is the sort of intelligent and honest songwriting that the saturated punk scene has been so devoid of in recent years.
The Black Lungs sound differs considerably from the full-on attack of McNeil’s other outfit, blending simple punk progressions with bar-room folk, rock’n'roll and a whole lot more… hell, there’s even some dubby bits in album intro “A Blessing And A Curse”. Send Flowers has a coherent feel to it, hinging as it does on McNeil’s gravelly voice and world-weary lyrics, but each track has something unique.
Maybe it’s a manifestation of McNeil’s egalitarian attitudes that sees him cranking this stuff out under the Black Lungs moniker rather than his own name, unadorned; no discredit to the other performers in the line-up (including members of Alexisonfire, Cancer Bats and Attack in Black), but only McNeil’s vocals and the rolling punk piano of his long-term buddySammi Bogdanski really take centre stage on Send Flowers. The others are essentially a backing band – solid, competent and necessarily unobtrusive, they’re a platform for McNeil to speak from.
And speak he does. Black Lungs songs have a gritty and unglamourised reality to them that makes it obvious how far “punk” has retreated from having anything to say worth hearing. McNeil has a knack for writing about real people that is sorely lacking in a lot of his contemporaries; witness “Fire and Brimstone”, a fresh take on the tired trope of religious hypocrisy. No chest-thumping denouncements here – his criticisms are all the more powerful for their straight delivery and incisive precision:
“beat your kids, pray to the holy ghost / all’s forgiven Sunday – you just wait in line, accept the Host / you’re not devoid of faith; you never had it anyway”
Send Flowers is a very down to earth album. The press release cites Billy Bragg as an influence, but I’d say that McNeil is more like Frank Turner – stories about ordinary things happening to ordinary people, the mundane truths behind the glossy hyperbole and dumb heroism of so much rock music. The keystone tune for me is “Hold Fast (Sink Or Swim)”, highlighting McNeil’s realistic but positive attitudes to life as he sings:
“You gotta push yourself today, don’t just drink and dream [...] when tonight is over, yesterdays are all we’ve got… “
With its ska-ish guitar chops and howled vocals, it’s a rousing call-to-action – not to riot in the streets, but to rearrange your own life with a focus on your own goals. Black Lungs are making the music I always hoped Rancid would end up doing, as opposed to their current crop of cliché tough-guy drinking anthems.
Somewhere along the line, the punk aesthetic got mistranslated into a message of celebratory self-destruction; McNeil and friends dig back to the roots and unearth a manifesto for standing tall, being yourself, and listening with compassion to the stories of your peers. Black Lungs are the sort of band we could do with more of, and Send Flowers is without a doubt the most relevant and honest punk album I’ve heard in years. Thoroughly recommended.
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Tags: Alexisonfire, Black Lungs, folk, folk-punk, punk, rock'n'roll, Send Flowers, Wade McNeil
