Paalmer - Old School
French punk rock five piece, 'Paalmer' want to bring punk back to the U.K and if four track E,P 'Old School' is anything to go by, they should be welcomed by the younger members of the punk rock scene with open arms.
Furiously fast and aggressively energetic, single 'Punk Rocker' is like old school punk by numbers, musically at least. Fast guitars? Check. Bass drums pedal on fire its being hit so fast? Check. Angry lyrics being shouted over the waves of musically expressed anger at society? Errrm, sort of.
You see that’s where Paalmer let this E.P stray from the classic punk rock sound that I think they were originally aiming for. They've got the music right, but the lyrics seem to have been borrowed from Punks younger, not so angry brother - pop punk. With lyrics including 'I just wanna be your new boyfriend, pretty girl I'm a punk rocker..' And a second track entitled 'Sleep with U' this E.P seems confused about where in punk's vast genre it wants to be. It’s a little odd hearing lyrics about relationships and hormones growled over music so clearly influenced by early punk rock, because a lot of these lyrics could be straight off a New Found Glory album. At the end of the four tracks you're left wondering whether Paalmer are more like The Ramones 'Sheena is a Punk Rocker' or Bowling for Soups 'Punk Rock 101'?
The Honest answer is that this is hard punk music with lyrics for a new generation. If you played this to a Ramones fan they would almost certainly laugh in your face, but to younger members of the punk scene this is an excellent band to bridge the gap between pop punk, and classic punk rock. Paalmer are not without charm or merit, after two or three listens you find yourself humming along, and singer Faab Paalmer's French accent lends a real original twist to an E.P that will probably receive a very mixed reception from the punk scene.