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Drastic Park have gotten drastically darker with their latest track Lost. The Melb punk trio are well known for their light hearted banter in their music, such as including the Wizard of Oz Witch cackle in Meltdown and covering The Saddle Club for charity. Lost is a much deeper song with a touch of existential crisis, shall we review this work of art?
For those of you who do not know my moody music process of reviewing songs/eps/ albums, I generally listen to the piece a few times. If you catch me listening to something on repeat on Spotify, chances are I’m either 1. Doing a review, 2. Am obsessed with the song, or 3. I’m in a mood (Current mood the other night was Clay J Gladstone’s U Here- mmm… it just hits so hard and purely, you gotta love a dark acoustic sometimes, ya know?).
Anyways taking things back to Drastic Park, the point of that little anecdote was that after a few listens to Lost, it started reminding me of Good Charlotte’s track Actual Pain off the Generation Rx album (2018), just because both songs are darker in spirit and have a worldy, almost ‘woke’ feel to it, and because of the woah’s. Now, Generation Rx is not a part of Good Charlotte’s peak music era (I say this as a massive GC fan- I can tell the Madden brothers vocals apart, their peak was Good Charlotte self titled to Good Morning Revival), but the tone of that album does compliment Drastic’s song Lost. You hear the growth, you hear the darkness, and you hear that both artists are trying to get a strong message out to the fans.
Lost feels like a perfect extension from Drastic Park’s song 10 Years off the Imposter Syndrome Ep (2020). Both songs are lyrically deep and meaningful, and the vocals are driven by bassist Chris Tannahill (the emo-sad boi of the trio [I say this with love, mind you! haha]).
The band have said that this song is about: “struggling to come to terms with your own mortality, with the question: "What happens after death?" affecting your day to
day life, decisions and actions. The song asks that nagging question that we all have... is
there more to life than what we can see and feel?”.
Drastic Park show off their more serious side, with lyrics that can be associated with addiction, pain, guilt, and existential crises. There’s at least one or more topics everyone can relate to in there. The opening lyrics are:
VERSE 1:
I don’t wanna be sober / I don’t wanna be sober anymore / Your advice is my closure / More than ever I want to take it And the story gets sadder / And the story gets sadder all the time / Recipe for disaster / Read the steps and you’ll get fed faster.
CHORUS 1:
I feel like I’m lost / Like flesh left to rot / Searching for something I can’t find / I wanna believe in what I can’t see / And sever the ties of eyes and mind
When I had interviewed the band about Imposter Syndrome last year, they really showed an excitement of introducing more dual vocals within their music, Lost is a perfect example of this aspiration/ goal that was put into place. Just on that musical growth of Drastic Park, you can hear that this song is an accumulation of so many aspects of previous songs. Last World- worldly/ incredibly relatable from various perspectives, 10 Years and Snakes & Ladders (watch the Snakes & Ladders Moody Music interview with Drastic Park)- dual vocals, and even the screaming sections in Meltdown I feel should get a shoutout with the screamy parts by Stoksey in Lost at the just under 3 min mark. Sooner or later I bet we get a BLEGH out of Drastic Park!
The Melbourne trio are known for being able to take and make laughs out of their own music, as we’ve seen with Meltdown, The Saddle Club cover, and even with the Drastic Park Trashposting Facebook Group. However, Lost creates a very interesting path for Drastic, are they going to get louder and more serious… are we gonna see a death metal Drastic Park?! Or are all band members going to share the vocals more equally? For instance take one verse each? Or is the other Tannahill brother going to unofficially sneak into the band and officially feature in the next track? Who knows? Guess we will have to wait and see what Drastic Park has next up their sleeves.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
KNIGHT & DAY FESTIVAL
Melbourne // Thurs 30- Fri 31 Dec 2021 // Knight & Day Festival // Kryal Castle (Ballarat)
THE STACKED AS TOUR feat. Wishful Thinking, Clay J Gladstone, Catholic Guilt, Cheap Date + more
Adelaide // Sat 19 Feb 2022 // The Stacked As Tour // Lion Arts Factory // 18+
Melbourne // Sat 26 Feb 2022 // The Stacked As Tour // The Leadbeater Hotel // 18+
Brisbane // Sat 5 Mar 2022 // The Stacked As Tour // Tomcat // 18+
Sydney // Sat 12 Mar 2022 // The Stacked As Tour // Burdekin Hotel // 18+
BAND LINKS
MOODY MUSIC LINKS Linktree https://linktr.ee/moodymusicblog
Moody Music’s Mission: Aims to promote and support bands in the more heavier and rebellious genres of music in the pop-punk, rock and metal music scenes by sharing their music
About Jess: Hey I’m Jess, 23 from Melbourne, Australia. All I want to do is help promote and support some kickass music from the most rebellious music scene.
BAND BLOG ENQUIRIES: Hi please email me at jessicadeannej@gmail.com with ‘BAND SUBMISSION- your band name’ and attached your Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for considerations of reviews and interviews.