Not many bands have tried to merge street-level punk with blue collar rock & roll, but that seems to be what
Roll the Tanks are shooting for on their second album,
Broke 'til Midnight. By their own admission,
Roll the Tanks have a soft spot for classic rock as well as old-school punk, citing
T. Rex and
Cheap Trick as personal favorites, but the regular-guy attitude of the lyrics suggests some
Bruce Springsteen and
Bob Seger albums also logged many hours on
RtT leader
Danny Carney's turntable, and the best songs here hit a middle ground between the day-to-day lives chronicled by the best Heartland Rock songwriters and the edgier sound and attitude of
the Clash,
Rancid, and other acts that followed their lead. The opening number, "24th and Buckets," even finds
RtT tossing snark at the sort of druggy bohemians one might imagine other punk revivalists would want to court, and they frequently lament the prospect of lost youth ("Waiting on a Storm," "Assumption Army," and "Pistolero") and dead-end lives (the title track). And
RtT don't seem very impressed with the comeback of vinyl ("Record Player") or the dominance of the blogosphere ("Computer Money"). But if this band isn't very excited about the arcane details of 21st century hipness, they obviously love rock & roll -- their farewell to personal hero
Jay Reatard, "Goodnight Jimmy Lee," is tuneful and heartfelt, and most of these tunes are solid meat & potatoes rock, punchy but with a full complement of drive and passion. And
Carney is a fine, unpretentious rock & roll singer, while guitarist Aaron Stuart, bassist
Mike Wakeham, and drummer
Joe Sirois back him up with skill and enthusiasm. If you're an aspiring anarchist,
Roll the Tanks may not speak to you, but folks who work for a living and would like to hear from a band who knows what it's like would be well served by checking out
Broke 'til Midnight. ~ Mark Deming