Days N’ Daze
“Show Me The Blueprints”
Fat Wreck Cords
Released : May 1, 2020
I’ve often wondered why Punks suddenly became attached to country and bluegrass music.
I first encountered this phenomenon at a The Devil Makes Three gig. It seems that the band was as surprised as I was, to see crusty punks moshing to bluegrass tunes. If I recall correctly, singer Pete Bernhard was not amused to have beer bottles whinged at his head. Or that may have been the second or third time I saw them. Where a riot broke out. Fist fights in the streets. And that 
resulted in the first and only time (so far) that I have been maced with pepper spray. That sucked. A lot.
Perhaps it has to do with bands like the sadly defunct .357 String Band. Or Hank Williams III and his rambunctious blending of Country and Punk. I pondered this over a cup of tea and with the Days N’ Daze record playing on the stereo. My conclusion, maybe Punk has become too mainstream. Too close and infused with Pop music. Perhaps Punks feel more comfortable with the raw sound of Country. After all, Country and Bluegrass are perhaps the last bastion. The last stand for non-commercial music.
Maybe I’m just full of shit. The more I think on it, the more I start to notice that there’s a whole lot of similarities between these genres. Maybe not in sound but in attitude. Rebellion. Non-conformity. Was this always the path? Did Punk rock always lead to living off the land, off-grid. Is this natural progression? I think it just may well be the case. And that’s just fine with me!
See also : Dave Smalley & The Bandoleros “Ignited” Review
Then again, the new Days N’ Daze records is coming out on Fat Wreck Chords. So, there’s that. Not to say Fat Wreck are the reason Punk has become so accessible. I’m not saying it’s aliens… but it’s aliens.
Their new record, “Show Me The Blueprints”, just might well be their most polished record. Meaning I feel this is the sound they were always building towards. They’ve honed their sound to this, a perfectly polished stone with which to throw into the cogs of the machine. I don’t want to call it a maturity of sound, but I struggle to find more accurate wording. In the past, I’ve found Days N’ Daze to be a little rough around the edges. They still are – but only in the right places.
Days N’ Daze utilize various vocals styles. From a sweet country croon to gruff and guttural snarls. At times they channel Fat Mike’s whine. Sometimes they sing about sweetness and sometimes they come across as drunks hopping train cars. It has feeling. “Show Me The Blueprints” just feels heartfelt and real. Lyrically mesmerizing.
I really am quite enamored with their sound on “Show Me The Blueprints”. There are a lot instruments played here. Which compliment the multiple vocal styles. Strings from guitars, ukulele and violins and banjo – I think. Don’t quote me on any of that. I only have one ear. Is that a trumpet I hear? It is quite literally contained chaos. Yet it works so well. It makes me want to blow into a whiskey jug while kicking the shit out of my apartment.
On Goodbye Lulu part two, we get a Bloodhound Gang style dance song. While the ever so lovely chorus of “Go fuck yourself” echoes from the speakers. Although it serves a switch-up, it kills the mood of the record. Perhaps it would have been best placed at the end of the record instead.
That last spot was reserved for a nasty yet lovely piece known as “Show Me The Blueprints”. The record’s title track. Picture a violin and acoustic guitar with a death metal snarl infused with punk spite. It’s really quite something. This song is all over the place while being quite centered. It represents the most volatile and aggressive few minutes of the recording. And then it just ends. Just like that. And quite fittingly too.
The band themselves call this thrashgrass. I call it drinking music. Party music. Get all your friends together in a field and get shitfaced and pass out in the grass music. Of course – we can’t do that anymore. Fucking Coronavirus.
For fans of : Leftover Crack, Rail Yard Ghosts, Goddamn Gallows
Track listing :
01. Flurry Rush
02. Ditches
03. LibriYUM
04. Saboteurs
05. My darling Dopamine
06. Rewind
07. Addvice
08. None Exempt
09. Fast Track
10. Goodbye Lulu (Part Two)
11. Show Me The Blueprints
