Billy Raygun - S/T Album: One Blogger's Opinion

Ever since sometime 2010 when I stumbled upon their Bandcamp page, Portsmouth, New Hampshire's Billy Raygun has been a band I have kept a close watch on. What originally peaked my interest was the similarity of their name and one of my favorite bands, Naked Raygun. Figuring they may have been influenced by the great Chicago punk band I gave it a listen. Instead of finding that Naked Raygun/Chicago sound so many bands have tried to duplicate, I found this band opting for a more simple revved up pop punk sound. But not “Pop Punk” in the way you may think.

It would be easy for Billy Raygun to go for the “Pop Punk” sound of The Queers, especially since they share the same hometown, Instead the band has a sound more influenced by another band from the area. I am not sure it was intentional or even if the guys in Billy Raygun have ever heard of them, but I definitely hear the influence of the very underrated 90’s New Hampshire band Sinkhole as well as the pre-Sinkhole and even more underrated A.G.’s.

Over the course of a few comp tracks and Eps, by themselves and split with other bands, Billy Raygun has released many catchy punk rock songs with "Asheap" and "Clone", both off the 2010 split with Georgian, being two of my favorite. Each one built around a single tight power riff. Pretty good sounding but also pretty simple too. Keep in mind these guys were still very young when most those songs were recorded. As each release came out the band matured a little bit each time. The new Self titled album is the one exception. On this album the band has matured a lot.

The songs on  the album definitely get a little looser and a little more comfortable. Instead of that stiff single riff, songs like "Stale Smoke", "Ex-Friends" and "Color Me Distressed" have guitars and loose strings going everywhere in the vein of Crimpshrine or Fifteen but both Billy Raygun singers have better and clearer voices then (Crimpshrine/Fifteen singer) Jeff Ott. I'm going to make a few enemies with that one. 

Halfway through the album is the song "Tituba". It is a harder, almost metal instrumental song which serves as a great intermission to the album before the side Two gets going. Every fun punk band needs their own "Go nuts and smash things up" song. With lyrics like "I don't want to sleep right now. So smash it down and burn it up" the song "Silkworm" is Billy Raygun's.

"You're Always Right" shows the band knows how to write a broken hearted anthem with an awesome build up before the song's breakdown. The last lines of the song, with both singers singing their hearts out together is probably my favorite part of the all around great album.

"Go Somewhere", a song reminiscent of Jawbreaker's "Do You Still Hate Me" (off the 24 Hour Revenge Therapy album) closes out the album. The fact that such a young band can write an original song the same caliber of Jawbreaker at the peak of their career, shows how far Billy Raygun has come.

Right now the band has half their album streaming on their Bandcamp page here
but it will soon be available on iTunes and other online music stores. Check out Billy Raygun's Facebook page here here for more information on how to order a copy on CD or Vinyl.