Gan – Do That Again. AGAIN!?!
In the region of 10 to 15 years ago there seemed to be a flood of melodic punk bands from various parts of the UK following in the footsteps of their spiritual forefathers Snuff. While the then-resurgent interest in punk fuelled by the mass popularity of Green Day/Offspring helped provide something of a reflected boost to this movement, none of them were able to cross over into commercial success. Gan were undoubtedly among the best of these, and as with so many other bands of that period, the good folks at Boss Tuneage have seen fit to recycle their discography for a second run-out. Gan do indeed sound very similar to Snuff, with a hint of Screeching Weasel thrown in for good measure. Their stuff is completely typical of the period: all furious guitars, relentless drums, and ‘woah-woah’ backing vocals, but constructed and performed with a degree of skill well above the scene mean. This disc includes a respectable 24 tracks, including covers from Bad Religion and The Descendents (in the latter case a very stupid cover of ‘Homage’) and a rather-better-than-average punk version of the oft-covered ‘99 Red Balloons.’ All in all, a more than decent retrospective from a band who may not be the height of fashion these days, but still deserve to be remembered fondly in the history of UK punk. EDDIE THOMAS
