The Good Fight is Johnny Panic’s second full-length album. Describing bands as having an accessible rock sound is rapidly becoming a cliché, no thanks to hordes of imitators and copycat emo also-rans, but Johnny Panic earn the adjective the old fashioned way.
Their bright rock sound owes more than a little to the increasingly popular polished punk pop of the MTV playlists, but there’s a layer of authenticity to The Good Fight that many modern bands don’t have. For a start, frontman Rob Solly isn’t afraid to sing with an accent that marks him as English, instantly separating Johnny Panic from the legions of Brit bands who seem to believe the key to success is cultivating a nasal West Coast whine.
A similar ethic applies to the music, with influences drawn from both sides of the Atlantic and combined into melody-driven tunes with clear lyrics and radio-friendly hooks.
While guitar bands with pop aesthetics are ten a penny right now, Johnny Panic’s material relies on substance as well as surface. There’s no need for them to crank up the distortion, because there’s no lack of depth to cover up; there’s no angsty histrionics, because Solly can see beyond the walls of his own bedroom when he looks for things to write about.
Which means we get sober songs about alcoholism, and damning indictments of a culture that places thugs and villains on pedestals, among the more personal themes. While there’s nothing particularly ground-breaking about the subject material, the concision with which the ideas are delivered is worthy of praise; opening number “Heroes Of Villains” contains the line “I’ll tell you how the West was won / the Indian, he had no gun”, for example.
Solly’s background in martial arts shows through all the way through the album, from the title on inwards. For Solly, combat is a metaphor; life must be wrestled, pinned down and overcome, or it will do the same to you while you’re not looking. “I Know That I Know” encapsulates this attitude, wrapping it up with a catchy chorus that cries out for radio airplay.
Because, make no mistake, Johnny Panic are a pop band. The songs on The Good Fight aren’t dependent on distortion and swagger to carry them through, relying instead on melody and narrative to forge a connection with the listener. And while they’ll win no prizes for innovation or originality, providing an antidote to the whining narcissism of the corporate punk scene will hopefully provide its own reward in the form of a dedicated fanbase – as long as they keep on fighting.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: Johnny Panic, pop, punk, rock, The Good Fight
