The Shrubs: Another Day Goes By

Purchase Another Day Goes By on CD Baby, or stream the album on Spotify.

“Another Day Goes By” draws its inspiration from a mix of The Ramones, The Yardbirds, and The Smithereens. The vocal delivery, including background vocals, is a blend of Joey Ramone, Keith Relf, and Pat DiNizio, and the instrumentation is an equal mix of Johnny Ramone, Jeff Beck, and Jim Babjak. The symmetry makes perfect sense…if you listen to the Beck-era Yardbirds, the seeds of punk are there for all to see. The Ramones drew as heavily from melodic pop as they did any hardcore punk values. The Smithereens wrapped British Invasion and Garage Rock around pop, with strong overtones of The Beatles and The Who. You’ll find fragments of all of that here, on an album of 9 solid, rocking and tuneful tracks.

There’s a multitude of nuances waiting to reveal themselves…on “What You Do To Me,” there’s an expansive, high-volume British Invasion psychedelia, and the songwriting absolutely nails the sound of mid-to-late hits from The Who, a reaching, climbing sense of urgency that moves along as smooth as silk. Any one of the songs could be a radio hit, but this one…this one…has something special to it.

“Something Wrong Here” is lighter, more pop-centric, but it still has all of the flavors listed above. The band certainly knows how to nail a sing-along hook…“There’s something wrong here, I don’t belong here…” The guitar solo is straight out of the John Lennon / George Harrison playbook, circa 1964.

“Crippled Wren” is a 2 minute boogie closer to the album, right out of the days of “Shindig” and “Hullabaloo”…think the Spinal Tap “Gimme Some Money” era.

This is a CD you bring along for a road trip…pop it in the player, roll down the windows, and ride, baby.