The A-OKs
Maybe Partying Will Help
Self-Released (2015)
Sounds Like: NOFX, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches
Score: 9/10
Smaller DIY ska/punk bands will always have my heart, and near the very top of my list of favorites is Denver-based The A-OKs. The self-labeled “PartyCore” band released their fourth album Maybe Partying Will Help in June. My favorite way to listen to music (besides live, of course) is to blast it while driving. I wanted to do the album justice by putting the CD in my car and turning the volume all the way up. (Which, fun fact, is an effective way to get your neighbors to hate you.) So it wasn’t until a month later, when I got my hands on a physical copy at the Ska Revival Tour that I finally listened to it all the way through.
The A-OKs released FunEmployment Benefits last year, which I completely fell in love with. I thought there was no way they could top that album. Maybe Partying Will Help has a bit of a different sound, which I wasn’t expecting, so when I first listened to it, I admittedly didn’t like it much. But after giving it a chance and listening to it all the way through, it began to grow on me. And then I proceeded to listen to it every day for at least a week straight. Needless to say, it was one of the soundtracks of my summer.
Maybe Partying Will Help is the band’s longest album; the other three all have 10 tracks, while this one has 14. Too often, when a band puts out an album with that many tracks, there are a lot of misses. The A-OKs, thankfully, are an exception. Nearly the entire album is spot-on and shows that the band has grown a lot, even from just a year ago. Maybe Partying Will Help is more mature than previous albums while still staying true to their PartyCore sound.
Take what is arguably the most popular song on the album, “Beer Bong.” The music is effortlessly clean and tight while making listeners want to get up and party. The chorus “You bring the rock and we’ll bring the roll, we don’t give a fuck if you lose control” is classic A-Oks, as is the music video for the song, which is a compilation of clips of people drinking from beer bongs. To even things out, party songs like “Beer Bong” and “Drugs In My Face” are accompanied on the album by songs with more serious lyrical material, like “Her Head & My Heart Strings” and “An Eighth of June (Birthday Song).”
My favorite song on Maybe Partying Will Help, though, blends seriousness with fun. “6669” is a Satanist’s love song lamenting the fact that though he “adores her completely,” his girlfriend “just won’t understand.” Relationship troubles plague every couple, and not even Satanists can escape them. I’m no musician, but I am a rude kid—and I don’t think anyone can deny the fact that the horn parts in this song are especially fantastic.
Sadly, Maybe Partying Will Help is the last album that the A-OKs will be releasing. After eight years together, on Oct. 7, the band announced that they were breaking up. As they said in their farewell Facebook post, though, “’breaking up’ is too strong of a term since that would suggest there’s been some sort of drama between the band but that isn’t the case.” Either way, the A-OKs played their last show on Oct. 16. I was crushed when I heard the news, since I had been looking forward to seeing them play at Viva Ska Vegas. Not to mention the fact that I probably wouldn’t be seeing one of my favorite ska bands play ever again.
Not all hope is lost, however: the former members of the A-OKs will be working on their own new projects. Former bassist Christian Jaramillo, for example, is already working on forming a new punk band. Whatever the former members decide to do, I wish them the best of luck and want to say “thank you” for all of the awesome memories.
-Julien Boulton
No Comments