The Choke – Tuff Kids Promo

First things first. This track was sent to me unsolicited by the band with a request for some feedback. Fair enough. I don’t know if I just happened to be tacked on to a list of every and any possible review opportunity as part of some marketing campaign, or whether someone involved with the band actually saw my blog and decided to hit me up. But if it’s the latter then all I can say is that they must’ve seen the word ‘punk’ in the title and not bothered reading any further. Because, if they had, it should’ve been obvious to them that my definition of punk and theirs are worlds apart.

This is basic mid-paced art-school rock n’ roll that maybe would’ve caught my interest for 5 minutes back in ’77. In 2010, it’s simply boring. There really aren’t any redeeming features here, unless you actually like your music safe, bland and generic. Throw in the designer image, fancy photoshoots and meaningless lyrics and it all adds up to everything I despise about the record biz trying to cash in on my culture. Quite frankly, I’d rather stick red hot pokers in my ears than subject them to anything more by this band.

If you want to be a rock band, get famous and make money from your music at least be honest about it. Tacking the punk tag onto your marketing strategy to make yourselves seem edgy and rebellious is a fucking insult to those of us who still believe that punk is so much more than just a career choice option.

OP’s opinion: X

If you really want to check it out for yourselves, you can have a listen here.