Somewhere between the Pixies and the “New Rock” bands like the Strokes and Jet lies a pleasantly in-your-face band from Sweden called Randy. They know how to craft engaging songs with bountiful energy and meaningful punk lyrics, and their accomplished sound sets them apart from the average rock band.
The energy in Randy’s new album “Welfare Problems” is incredible: they never waver in their all-out assault of catchy choruses and fuzz box guitar riffs. The band uses many traditional punk techniques, yet still manage to come off as a rock band — with an emphasis on the rock.
With Fredrick Granberg on drums, Johann Gustafsson on bass, Stefan Granberg on guitar, and Johan Brandstrom on guitar, all of the band members sing except Granberg. The power that this four-piece emits is undeniable. It would be impossible for anybody listening to the album to keep from nodding their head in an agreeable, if not headbanging, manner.
Randy’s lyrics are well-defined as well, with enough anti-establishment ideas to brown the trousers of John Ashcroft. The band spouts off about such things as cops in “A Man in Uniform,” where the band vocalizes their contempt for police officers.
The song’s beginning bears a striking resemblance to that of the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” but that is soon forgiven as the band quips, “I guess you want to see the look on my face when you smash it / I guess you want to see the damage you do when you bash it / You don’t like no black masks mister / You don’t like folks of our kind / You don’t like us brothers and sisters and you don’t care about the reason behind / ACAB meant nothing to me until I saw this program about it on TV / I hate a man in a uniform.”
The lyrical style in “X-Ray Eyes” is slower and more sentimental, as the song tells the story of a child whose parents are going through a divorce. “Back in 1982 they were talking about what to do / Stay together or separate, every day that same debate / I heard them from the walls up in my room / All the kids want X-ray eyes / So they can see when grown-ups lie.”
These lyrics are very much punk in nature. While most punk-rock bands these days are singing about their girlfriends, why they can’t get a girlfriend, and how come they can’t get a girlfriend (cough cough Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, New Found Glory, cough!), Randy’s pointed lyrics are powerful enough to overcome the tedious norms of popular music and resonate with meaning for a change.
Overall, this is just one damn rocking album — there is no other way to put it. Randy’s pure energy and expressive lyrical style make “Welfare Problems” a must-have for anyone who wants to get ahead of the trends, because this is one album where anyone would be hard-pressed to find a bad song. Every track on the CD will have you and your grandmother headbanging and flashing the universal “rock on” gesture to everyone you meet.
With a Swedish Grammy nomination in the bag, Randy will visit Portland’s State Theater at 609 Congress St. in less than two weeks, on Sunday, May 2. They will open for the Bouncing Souls. The all-ages show begins at 6:30 p.m., and tickets are $13.
Jon Blood can be contacted at [email protected]