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2007 Rally Records
Johnie 3 return for another 13 tracks of happy-go-lucky bubblegum pop punk. There's nothing new here, it's all rehash,
both for the band and the punk rock genre overall. If you're not familiar with these guys, it's basically your typical Screeching
Weasel / Riverdales sound-alike outing, from another Lookout! Records-style pop punk band waving the Ramones
flag (except the only one of these bands who actually sound like The Ramones is The Riverdales. But I digress). But,
they're from Youngstown, which is probably the only thing setting them apart for me, personally. And they are a good
time live, but on record I think what hurts them is their lack of variation. All the songs sound the same! Not much of a difference
in tempo throughout the CD, and I think they're all even in the same key. Which, in the world of 3-chord punk, isn't very
fun. Each song would be fine if included in a mix CD or with your MP3 player set on shuffle, but trying to play the disc from
start to finish gets grating somewhere around track 5.
Standout tracks are the opener, "Danelectro" (a love song about a guitar), "Indie Rock" (a fast little ditty
denouncing the arty rock genre), the title track (an instant classic), "I Miss You" (bubblegum infectiousness), and
"Annie Got Herpes" (but only for the title).
Co-produced and engineered by "local rock guru" and Cedar's Lounge soundboard Nazi, Pete Drivere (Infidels, Deadbeat
Poets, Pretty Demons), and mastered by Lookout! staple and Iguana Studios producer Mass Giorgini (Squirtgun,
Common Rider, Screeching Weasel), Hang the DJ will have you wishing it was 1995 again.
--Sam Sinister
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