Listening to Bite Me Bambi’s newest album, “Eat This” is like opening a box of Cap’n Crunch’s “Oops All Bangers” or whatever it’s called. This album is just packed with great songs. It feels like every song on it has the feel and energy of a single, and with good cause- six of the eight tracks were released over the last year or so as singles and another song had a single and video release with the album. This brings up another thing Bite Me Bambi does well, they release videos for the majority of their songs. The videos are typically fun and almost as energetic as the music with full dance choreography and fun plots.
The album begins with the newest single, “Too Many People” which they released with the album drop, and to my surprise, the first vocals on the album are from “Dirty Walt” Kibby from Fishbone who is featured on the song. The track begins with a pretty quick, catchy rhythm from the drums, the vocals come in not as a song, but more as a narration, as the guitars pick up and the narration is setting a scene of large crowded cities and people everywhere. On one hand, it feels like it’s inducing anxiety, but at the same time, it feels like it’s something that the narrator craves, like a mischievous devil, wanting to take advantage of the things that overwhelm them. As the narration ends, the horns kick in, and lead singer Tahlena comes in with the first verse. While Tahlena sings about too many people, feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and feeling like she’s surrounded by hate, before moving into the chorus. In the chorus, Tahlena sings “too many people” and Dirty Walt Echoes the line, but it feels to me like his voice is changing the tone, while. Tahlena sounds like she is expressing frustration, Walt still sounds devilishly happy with the situation, before he takes over the chorus repeating “out with the old and in with the new, that’s right, these songs about you”. In this world my head creates every time I hear this song, Tahlena is a character in a book or a movie, and Dirty Walt is animated, a narrator, watching the situation unfold, breaking the fourth wall, talking directly to the audience. This isn’t actually what the song is about, it’s just the vibe I get. The actual song lyrics in the later verses have more of a vibe of overcoming, making necessary changes to your environment, removing people who waste your time and energy, and celebrating your individuality- it also has a hell of a guitar solo.
The second track is “Bad Boyfriend”. The group vocals through the chorus in this track, the catchy rhythms, and the keys all work together to beg you to sing along. The transitions in pace and tone manage to keep the song feeling fresh, exciting, and engaging throughout. The bass intro is nice and the drum tempo through the entire song sticks with you even after the song is over.
“Girls Like You” is such a damn good song about always falling for the wrong type of girl. The horns in this track are some of the absolute best on the album and it features a phenomenal horn solo in the middle of the track. The pacing in this track is incredibly quick, and it always feels like it’s switching tempo yet never getting slower. It’s begging you to get up and dance, especially for the final minute of the song when it’s mostly chorus.
Seven of the eight tracks are singles, with Gaslighter’s Anthem being the exception. It may be the least epic song on the album, but it’s definitely worth listening to. The song has great ska riffs throughout the track, an outstanding solo on the keys that leads into a guitar solo that is equally stellar, but the song somehow feels a little less stellar. I think, perhaps, the vocals aren’t given quite as much room to breathe so it doesn’t feel as easy to sing along.
But if you wanted to sing along with something, the one cover song on the album is next and it begs for you to join in as much as any song on the album. Offsprings’s “Want You Bad” was great before Bite Me Bambi claimed it, and Tahlena’s vocals really carry this version. The addition of a saxophone solo really takes it to the next level.
“Do the Damned” adds rockabilly vibes to an already deep arsenal of influences, and a rockabilly guitar solo to top it off. “Like That” is probably my favorite song on the album and the most Orange County ska punk girl pop power tracks ever written. “Girls of Summer” has a funky vibe while being an absolute “song of the summer”, with a nice hip-hop tempo transition right in the middle, and great samples tossed in.
This entire album is must-listen music. It takes the best parts of 90s and 2000s ska punk, adds in more pop, makes every song something to sing and dance to, and keeps things fresh through every moment of every track. For fun, entertaining, ska punk, this is one of the best albums ever recorded. I love it.
Written by Gimp Leg
