#feel it

The band is led by singer/guitarist Sims Hardin, late of Dark Web and the current chronicler of The Best Punk on Bandcamp, alongside Allison Durham on 12-string guitar and vocals Tom Riese on bass and Steve Darling on drums. And yet, while they are, as a group, clearly steeped in punk history, they approach their art with humor, not reverence. A pretty banging “Mister Potatohead” hails the glories of the plastic put-together toy. A song called “5G” puts the threat of mass surveillance to a jittery but high spirited punk anthem (“The government is after me/they control my brain with 5G/The NSA has tapped my cell/and now I’m in a liberal hell”). “Violent Peasant” anticipates a 99% percenter uprising, with glorious chimes of 12-string. The bottom line: Mesh is aware of how dire things are, but it’s not putting a damper on the ruckus they raise. 

It’s hard to pick a favorite on an album so devoted to a good time, albeit at the end of days. But do not sleep on “Boots on the Pavement” with its thunderous drumming and twining six- and 12-string guitar licks; it’s an instant ear worm, a march towards happy oblivion, and if you don’t like it, you probably don’t like fun, not a bit, not at all.