Review: Skid 24 - Home and Away EP [2016]

As already mentioned when I posted one of their songs, it's always nice to discover a local band purely by accident. Especially in this very small punk, I was surprised to discover a band I hadn't even stumbled across before.
 Skid 24's first EP, Home and Away, consists of 4 tracks of pure early 2000s pop punk rock. If you think of bands like Blink 182 and The Offspring, then you're close to what this Israeli punk 4 piece do.
  Opening track, Stop The Planet, has quite a The Kids Aren't Alright (The Offspring) sound to it musically, but the vibe changes when vocalist, Leo, begins. His vocals are very much more in the vein of Blink 182 and New Found Glory but due to his strong accent, some words come out sounding strange. Despite that, the song itself is catchy with a fairly serious tone.
  The rest of the EP has a more Blink feel over all. Actually, it's not just a feel but even sound like total replicas. The EP's title track is pretty identical to Rock Show and closing song, Swings, is reminiscent of more poignant numbers like Stay Together For The Kids and Adam's Song. It even verges on the Angel and Airwaves use of the "disco" beat, which makes the chorus easy to dance to. Rock City is possibly the most anthemic. With fast delivery, the song's chorus will be stuck in your head for a while, as will the song's main riff.

  In short, the obvious similarities and strong accent aside, this is personally quite enjoyable punk rock with added nostalgic value. The production quality is of high standard for such an unknown band and the songs are generally quite memorable. The vocals even grow on you after a while. I now sort of see it the same way I see Japanese punk; the accent acts as another instrument and just makes the whole thing sound more interesting.

   Skid 24 might not be exploring any new ground as such, but they're playing what they like and doing it to a good standard, which has to be respected. For anyone interested in downloading the EP FOR FREE, there are special codes to use via the band's bandcamp. The band has kindly given me a few to allocate as I wish. Go to http://skid24.bandcamp.com/yum and use any of these codes:


r2kk-3g37 uxmr-gkz3 vq85-b994 78nb-x96m ludm-et96
If all of these have already been used and you cannot access the free download, get in touch and I might be able to get hold of some more, but essentially this is a first come first served basis.

3.8/5

(Yes. That's really 3.8. It's seriously better than 3.5 but not quite a 4.)