Girth Control doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to what their music is all about. Some bands write love songs, some bands write political songs. Some other bands write about sex or fame or clout. Girth Control is not some bands. Girth Control writes music for the pure fun of it, and it shows. They definitely don’t take themselves too seriously- in their Instagram bio they refer to themselves as ska punk stupidity. Their 2016 sophomore album was called Shorter, Faster, Dumber and featured 14 songs while the whole album clocked in at well under 9 minutes.
This is a band that is absolutely committed to just having fun. It turns out, they are also really good musicians. This is their first full album since the aforementioned Shorter, Faster, Dumber, but Life’s Too Short for Girth Control makes up for the hiatus with a full 25 track album that lasts over 45 minutes. The album never takes itself seriously, but also, never devolves into the absurd. It’s fun, it’s catchy, but also, musically, it’s surprisingly good.
Their debut album, in 2015 was titled What Got You Stoked in the First Place? and the album was literally asking that very question. What was the first thing that made you fall in love with punk music? Was it the short, catchy songs. The rhythm? The skits and jokes that were on a lot of albums? This is a big part of the persona of Girth Control- even their name is a joke about birth control and weight loss. They refuse to take the world seriously, it’s just three friends having fun, and they are inviting you to join them on the fun with this massive collection of 25 songs.
The album starts with pianos, and moves into massive rock and roll ballad guitars as they croon about life being too short for Girth Control, and as soon as you are ready for a big chorus the song ends and explodes into a loud, fast-paced fun song that tells you exactly what Girth Control is all about. “Now That’s a Girth Control Song” explains why they don’t write break up songs or political songs, and instead all of their music is about drinking and saying the word ‘fuck’. And they follow through with 23 more songs that demonstrate these core elements of songwriting. One of my favorite gags on the whole album is probably “Shorts Music For Shorts People” a play on the 1999 punk compilation album “Short music for short people” that featured 99 songs at 30 seconds or less. Girth Control definitely has a few tracks that would qualify, but this track is actually for people who wear shorts- because what else are you going to write a song about.
So far, they have already released a four music videos for songs on this album. The first video was “I hope Girth Control can pay the Bills”, a tongue in cheek video about selling out and record labels, while also mocking how hard it is to actually make money as an indie band. Next, they released “Wrecked on Triple Sec”, a song about stealing alcohol from your parents liquor cabinet in high school. A second video is a karaoke style lyric video for a song called “Passin’ Out” praising the glories of ignoring responsibility and just saying ‘fuck it’ and passing out. Earlier this week they released the final pre-release single in “Work Shirts”- a quick song lambasting the capitalist nightmare of spending so much of your time working for someone else that you don’t even have time to even wear your own clothes. If you’re in a band to have a good time and hang out with your friends, you might as well release a lot of music videos.
Chock full of upstrokes, juvenile humor, catchy rhythms, absolute banger guitar riffs, this album thrives at being exactly what it tries to be- just pure fun. Three friends having the time of their life, and that you don’t need a horn section to be a ska band, and that humor punk is not dead, and if you want to have some fun and not have to worry about the world around you, then this is the perfect album for you.
Written by Gimpleg
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