Search - D.I. :: Caseyology

Punk by the book

02/13/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I understand that now a more legitimate version of D.I. is back in action, but in 2002, or whenever this thing was recorded, it was just Casey Royer and three session guys calling themselves the Wick Band. And it says that in the credits! "D.I. is: Casey Royer...vocals. Guest session players: The Wick Band, featuring..." etc. What's up with that? Either just make then honorary D.I.s, or credit the whole album to Casey Royer (and friends). Anyway, that's the major criticism of this thing. You could compare it to the Ramones' swan song "Adios Amigos," (even though that's a better album) in the sense that it's following the punk guidelines. All originality seems to have been sucked out of D.I. This is like a complete cash-in. The covers of legitimate D.I. include "Stick to Your Guns," "Richard Hung Himself," and "Johnny's Got a Problem," and they sound snappier than the originals, if you try not to think about who's playing them. The new one's are complete punk by the book: the guitar has that thin, hammering sound and the whole drum set sounds like a woodblock sometimes. So are the lyrics: "Persecution for Profit" is a random and near-idiotic psuedo-political song, "Anthony the Psycho" is about a 'crazy guy' and all the bad stuff he does, "She Don't Like Me" is about a girl that doesn't like him anymore, and "Anxiety Attack" is another kind of numbskulled one about someone's dad going crazy. Standard punk s**t that was good the first time, right? Actually they're all kind of numbskulled. They do sound pretty good though, and I think the latter-day fakeness is part of their charm."