(Self-released, digital)
Rarely has an album title been as fitting as Fighting Words, the debut EP from Burlington punk outfit Violet Crimes. From the first song, “Some Exceptions May Apply,” to the closing track, “Get Off My Lawn!,” it’s clear the band has a lot to get off its collective chest.
Led by vocalist Amy Klinger, the quintet hit the scene in 2023 with its demo Change My Mind, a raw but promising recording that suggested the band was caught between harder-edged punk and the melodic pop-punk of bands such as the Descendents. On Fighting Words, Violet Crimes have arrived at the right formula for a powerful record that is full of rage and yet somehow simultaneously retains a sense of — for lack of a better term — fun.
“I’m agnostic, you’re Islamic / He’s a Wiccan, she’s a Christian / Like the bumper sticker says, coexist, coexist!” Klinger roars on the hard-charging opener. She adds: “Except for racists, homophobes and the fascists.”
The record’s thesis is all right there. The song is both a call to unity and a warning of where the line is drawn. It brings to mind a quote from writer and activist Robert Jones Jr.: “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
Things move from politics to the bedroom on “Can I Be Honest.” Klinger sings of a relationship frozen in apathy and lovers who have morphed into strangers. The song eases back from hardcore influences as mellifluous guitar riffs help replace the punk snarl with the indie-rock drive of Sleater-Kinney.
Things get literal on “A Slap in the Face,” a song that’s actually about, well, fighting. As Jason Dean sets an explosive pace on the drums, locked in with bassist Kevin Duerr and guitarists Roger Klinger and Mark Tomase, Violet Crimes lay out an anthem for wrestling that would make John Cena proud. They are such fans that they even reference kayfabe, a shorthand term for the staged nature of professional wrestling. “They’ll say it’s fake, but the scars are real,” Klinger sings. “Landing on your back again, again the heel.”
The sound of a lawn mower being fired up signals the EP’s final track, the satirical “Get Off My Lawn!” A fitting end to the record, the song focuses on a lawn where “everything is lush and green, every blade pristine.” It spoofs the NIMBYs (“Not in My Backyard”) out there, mocking their fear of the wider world, as well as the fetishization of rural symbols like tractors as Klinger coos at a John Deere: “Oh, oh, oh, you know / You’re the only one I ride on.”
Fighting Words is a donnybrook of a record, featuring six tracks perfect for giving someone sweet chin music and dropping hard truths on them as they pull themselves up off the canvas. Will the dummies of the world need another punch in the kisser? We’ll have to wait for Violet Crimes’ follow-up to know.
The album is available at violetcrimesvt.bandcamp.com and on all major streaming platforms.
This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2024.
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