Mixing the gruffness of Midwest pop punk with a liberal helping of Samiam-esque sense of melody and structure, Bike Tuff have produced a really solid LP. Into Shores is a record that fires on all cylinders from the get go. “Each Purling Note” opens the record with a pretty straight forward punk rock song. While it is pretty by the books, it still serves as a great introduction.
The band stays really solid through the next song “Oak St. Market.” This song shows the more melodic part of what the band is working with. In fact, that is the interesting part of the record from the start. It jumps around between straight ahead punk rock songs and more melodic, slower passages. Like, “This Canada House Is Not A Home” is very straight forward punk riffing. It sticks pretty close to the Epi-Fat melodic hardcore of days past. Then, on the other hand, we have songs like “Baby, You’re An Anarchist” and “Sweet Berry Wine.” They are less piss and vinegar type punk songs, and more spacious and melodic. This isn’t to say they are emo songs or whatever, though the guitars DO twinkle a bit. They are much more pop influenced songs.
Basically, there is a little bit here for everyone. While the band draws from various influences, it never makes the record too disjointed. I can see this record appealing to The Fest crowd as much as the Warped Tour crowd. This is both positive and negative, I guess. While it has mass appeal, it doesn’t really stick out as anything great. As a punk rock record, Into Shores gets the job done. As a band, Bike Tuff show a lot of promise. I don’t know, I just feel like something is missing here.
Team Reasonable 