Comeback Kid “Beds Are Burning” Review

Comeback Kid
“Beds Are Burning” 7″ EP
Nuclear Blast
Released : May 4th, 2018

I will admit, when I bought this 7″ EP from the bands merchandise table, I had no idea what I had. Seeing as the disk is a pretty red splatter, and the sign said “only four copies remain”. I bought it. You can also factor in several wobbly pops. We won’t get into that statistic though. Lets stay with the part about me being a sucker for records, especially those limited color variants.

Comeback Kid "Beds Are Burning"Turns out, this pretty piece of vinyl was made for Comeback Kid’s Australian tour. Yet here it was, waiting to meet my ears in Quebec City. Something tickles me about a band from Winnipeg taking this record all the way down under. Across Australia, back to Canada. Into to Quebec City where I brought it home to Montreal. It’s a well traveled little guy. Anyway, I digress.

Now, it needs saying that I gravely dislike covers, re-imaginings or remakes. I very  seldom enjoy an alternate version of a previous work. It has happened, sure, but very rarely. Hell, I didn’t even realize this was a cover track until the following morning. (Umm remember those wobbly pops? Yeah, well I didn’t even look at the track listing before buying it.)

When it did click, my reaction was to chuckle and mutter the word “cool” out loud. To myself. Into my coffee. Two creams and two sugars in case you’re curious. That, and to stick it on the turntable. A little audible hair of the dog, of sorts. I’ve always enjoyed music while hungover. Oddly.

Now, I like music of all kinds – with a preference for the heavy and noisy. So my initial interaction with Comeback Kid’s version of the Midnight Oil classic, “Beds Are Burning”, when it had stopped spinning was to feel happy. I felt glee. Yes, glee. Remember when I said I didn’t like covers? Well this one is great. There. I said it.

The original version lyrically has all the attributes of a punk rock song. Political driven and socially aware. It was a song about changing our rotten ways. About acceptance. Righting wrongs. Very much akin to what is happening today. Some might say it was avant garde. Now that I think about it, its a wonder this song wasn’t given a punk rock make-over eons ago.

Comeback Kid have given it crunch. Bravado. It slams hard and heavy and straight up rocks. Very much a hardcore fused sing-a-long of epic proportion. Already knowing the lyrics and structure of the track certainly helps, but there’s more to it than that. There is an element of fun to this, despite being very serious. The Kids have done Midnight Oil right. It sat on my turntable for a while, getting repeated plays before it occurred to me that there was a B-side.

See also : An ode to Slayer

“Little Soldier” starts off with a stop-n-go riff and leads into a solid melodic hardcore track. A strong bass line powers much of the song and the sing-a-long approach of the vocals builds into a fun track. A head-bobber and neck wrecker. It is actually a cut from the “Outsider” LP. Which is sweet piece of music in its own right. Alas, not the topic of discussion for the moment though.

All in all, this is a solid EP. One I am glad to have accidentally purchased. This addition to my collection will have its place in the 1950s style jukebox I’ll one day find, and own. Somehow. I’d better start gathering up my pennies now.

For Fans Of:  Figure Four, Madball, Strung Out
Tracklisting:
01. Beds Are Burning
02. Little Soldier
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