As complicated as the rhetoric has seemed to become since the dawn of the millennium, there are really only two kinds of punk band: those who make punk rock reliant upon sound and form, and those who are punk in ideal. The most visible camp has traditionally been the “sound and form” set – they wear the uniform, are the most outspoken and have the biggest personalities – but the ones who tend to have a little more endurance (read: they don't become parodies of themselves) and staying power are the “punk theorists”; more interested in ideas and developing them than fitting in, these bands follow their muses first and worry about whether they're going with or against the grain second. In listening to their Roman Nose EP, there's no question which camp Ninja Gun has chosen to ally itself with; with no distortion pedals utilized anywhere in this run-time and tempos which never breach the brink of introspective contemplation, there's no mistaking that Ninja Gun is shooting from a “thinking man's” angle.
Listeners won't be able to stop themselves from doing a double take as “That's Not What I Heard” eases the door open on the Roman Nose EP. The delicate, almost Pet Sounds-esque acoustic guitars employed and coupled with a smooth and unshakable rhythm section don't introduce the band as having any teeth at all here; the song simply sounds like the sort of track which rightly fell through the cracks during the recording sessions for Ninja Gun's 2008 LP, Restless Rubes. The song doesn't really sound remarkable at all which will cause listeners to scrutinize it that much harder; they'll want to have every reason to pan the EP locked down. It's in that scrutiny that they'll find the punk angles of approach which Ninja Gun take here though; subversive lyric sheets open up to reveal some really biting commentaries and condemnation of corporate manipulation of poor people. It's ironic, in its own way, that such a razor-sharp hook is buried so deeply into the song – but it'll feel like a reward when listeners finally do find it.
With that tone set, Ninja Gun continues on its antithetical journey for/against punk, and just keeps striking gold. As “Hot Rain” churns its way forward sounding like the best B-side the Meat Puppets forgot from the Too High To Die sessions, singer Jonathan Coody flips his imagery on its head again by turning a desert oasis into a depressed ghost town that “has no answers.” Here, the band really makes listeners work to find the dystopian darkness about the Roman Nose EP but, after they find it, they begin to revel shamelessly in it.
The second side of the Roman Nose EP treads further outside the punk box sonically, but gets progressively more biting, lyrically. “Lepers In Love” feels like a scathing indictment of pop punk as it rifles through the story of a doomed relationship with vitriol for the story as well as some ironic commentary on pop-punk as Coody near spits every overwrought couplet and the band steadfastly refuses to bow to the “songs about girls” writing paradigm. That's a poignant enough statement to make, but Ninja Gun still takes one last stab with the title track which finds its protagonist pawning a guitar to buy a wedding ring. It sounds like it should be a sweet sentiment but, because the music mopes so blessed hard (think about the score behind the funerary moments in Top Gun when Maverick's plane crashes and kills Goose, and you'll notice some striking similarities), the emotive angle gets lost and the melodrama starts to become funny because it's so drawn out.
By the time “Roman Nose” begins to fade out, listeners will find themselves just waiting – itching – to start the EP over again. They'll feel compelled to know every note by rote because they know this is an EP that commands some intelligence from those listeners who wish to “get it.” It sounds backwards, but the sound and design of Roman Nose is a great kind of bait; listeners will be waiting for Ninja Gun's next release with baited breath because this kind of punk theory begs more elaboration.
Artist:
www.ninjagun.com/
www.myspace.com/ninjagun
www.facebook.com/pages/Ninja-Gun/
www.twitter.com/ninjagun
Album:
The Roman Nose EP is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
