The Weekenders - (2012) Don't Plan On

I often wonder if the music was better in the 70’s, and by this, I mean rock and hard rock.  It was a time when bands could do as they wanted, if they so choose to write a 10min song or a 2min song, they just did it.  The freedom to be an artist, at least to me, was at an all-time high.  Not mention most were probably high, which I think certainly helped allow them to expand and create something that would be truly astonishing.  (Now I know not every band was like this nor could be like this, but there are quite a few) There was a certain groove to the music, those hard rock bands had a swagger about them, a cocky approach to the product they were delivering.   Not only from what you can see while they played their asses off on stage, but also from the records they would release.   How many times were you just mesmerized by a certain song, or album side, or by a certain band(s)? Can I call it the golden age of rock?  I think so.  How could we really argue with this?  From Humble Pie to Deep Purple to Led Zeppelin to Sir Lord Baltimore to the Allman Brothers, and so on….  Imagine being able to walk into a record store where every few months your favorite bands would have a new album waiting for you.  As a music fan, what more could you have asked for?

The Weekenders bring to mind those days back then.  Do they have that “retro” sound that is indeed making a small comeback nowadays?  Do they wear their influences on their sleeves?  Yes.  Is it bad, fuck no!   Are they like Graveyard, Witchcraft, and Troubled Horse etc...?  No.  They are more like a Rival Sons, Gin Lady or for the more obscure folk, the Want.  I am certainly not going to say they sound alike, as much as they play the same kind of grooves as those bands.  To be fair, I cannot pick one song that, in particular grabs me.  Why?  Well to be honest, I find every song on this release well written, well played and just plain perfect.  What it is to be able to listen to an album from start to finish and just be smiling at the end.   That is the type of feeling and emotions one wants to embrace when they sit around the stereo and hear the music that they so highly want to hold as being something better than average, something that one or all can consider special.   As I go through listening to Don’t Plan On (again), all I can tell you, is if you don’t give this a listen, then you surely have missed out, not only on one of the best albums of 2012, but one of the best albums that have hit these ears in many years. Available now as a free download on their website. Now go get it!

-Will Bissonette-