Description
There might have been a time when Torontos Pkew Pkew Pkew were the sort of punk band who revelled, unquestioningly, in the grimy chaos of the mosh pit, or an up-until-the-sun bender, or a skate session in an abandoned pool. But things have changed: the pit started to feel more like a workout, the bender gave way to a crushing hangover, and someone broke their wrist in that abandoned pool. That doesnt mean that Mike Warne (guitars/vocals), Ryan McKinley (guitars/vocals), Emmett OReilly (bass/vocals) and David Laino (drums) will stop doing these things; it just means they realize theyre not good for them. So why dont they stop?
Their new record, Optimal Lifestyles out 1st March on Big Scary Monsters, doesnt offer any solutions, but instead catalogues these behaviours with unflinching clarity and precision. Warne writes in the same tongue as plot-driven realists like The Hold Steadys Craig Finn, not trading in metaphors or coded language but in undressed, literalist narratives over Pkews supercharged twin-guitar crunch. In the spring of 2017, Finn himself came up to workshop songs with the band in Toronto. You know in school when you can hand your work in early, and the teacher will read it and give it back to you, and then you can really hand it in? It was kinda like that, grins Warne.
Pkew Pkew Pkew have been on this beat for a while. Theyve opened on cross-continental runs with Anti-Flag and The Flatliners, headlined dates across North America, Europe and the U.K., and become mainstays at punk festivals like Montreals Pouzza Fest and Gainesville blowout The Fest. Along the way, theyve accrued a loyal fanbase of both sports dads and young kids that wanna drink and barf on each other, Warne laughs. While their 2016 selftitled debut angled more towards the minutiae of the late-20s punk life, the new record steps back to look at the root causes.
Is this good or is this bad? Warne ponders of the lifestyle Pkew sings about. Its fun to live like an idiot, but its probably bad, also. Were all constantly wondering if weve ruined our lives forever or not, being in a band.
Song-by-song, the record lays out a journal of the sort of living Warne speaks of. Over the Japandroids-esque anthemics of Thirsty And Humble, a half-lit Warne counts in his pocket, and the resultant mental math tells him he can afford three more beers to supplement the six already in his system, as well as his stash of drinks in the alley outside the bar.
Warne explains that alley-beers are a must for Pkew, who spent their early days taking multiple cabs to and from venues across Toronto. He admits that one of their early moneysaving schemes included packing a guitar case full of beers to sneak into gigs they were playing. Pkews openness on record is an undecorated representation of who they are. I could worry a hell of a lot more than I do, but for some reason I dont, Warne says. But this isnt a jokey, bro-ish shrug-off of his circumstances, and neither is Pkews a purely self-indulgent self-destruction. Its an acceptance of the circular futility of life in Toronto, increasingly marked by hellishly-accelerated rent increases and unfeeling gentrification. More than anything, this record is about trying to cope with a city, an industry, a world that increasingly doesnt seem to give a shit about peopleonly money.
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