Off With Their Heads

“It’s Minnesota. 6 months of the year you’re pretty much locked in, cold,” Off With Their Heads vocalist and guitarist Ryan Young said over the phone, recovering from a bought with the flu.  “People make fun of us because they always say, ‘Oh, from Minneapolis. Grumpy.’ Yeah, well, but we party.” 

Maybe it’s our bitterly long winters that can account for why Off With Their Head’s debut full-length (not counting numerous splits and EP’s),From The Bottom, is so awash in booze-soaked self-deprecation. The record contrasts deceptively upbeat Midwestern pop-punk, similar in style to fellow Minneapolis scene luminaries Dillinger Four, with melancholic lyrics rife with angst, regret and despair. Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, the disc makes for a brisk but addictive listen, effectively combining gravel-throated sing-along choruses with subtle pop hooks.

“I Am You” sets the tempo for the proceedings immediately with a driving three-chord progression while Young exorcises his demons with the gruffly hardened voice of a man who eats glass and drinks gasoline. The record doesn’t deviate much from its straight-forward punk rock delivery, yet it remains refreshing for its simplicity and lack of excess.

Songs that sound almost cheerful reveal themselves to be anything but after taking a cursory glance at the lyric sheet. Cuts off the album like “1612 Havenhurst” and “F*** This, I’m Out,” see Young at his most unapologetically downtrodden, the latter of which closes out with the lines, “I don’t think I’ll ever make it out alive / So I might as well just kill myself tonight / Yeah, might as well just kill myself tonight / I don’t want to but I don’t see any other way.”

Before anyone picks up the phone and dials the suicide hotline, Young explains he isn’t always as bummed out as lines like “I’m all the tears you cry ‘till you can’t see” might lead one to believe. While Young’s words are often intensely personal, they’re also brazenly honest and sincere in a way that’s more relatable than miserable; it’s not about self-pity, it’s about cathartic release.

“The lyrics really are just like, that one day, you know?” Young said. “I’m not like that all the time, but that’s what is a great outlet for me. If I didn’t do this, I’d probably be crazy.”

Despite any perceived depressive tendencies, the band also shows a wry sense of humor, as evidenced by their penchant for tongue-in-cheek video singles. Prior to the intro of “Terrorist Attack,” a jam that lambasts biased sensationalism in the media, Young says, “Sorry man, we suck. We’re not actually musicians.”

If that’s how they really feel, then they’ve got a lot of people who would argue against that assertion. From The Bottom has been warmly received by both fans and the press alike, landing
the number 6 spot on influential punk e-zine Punknews.org’s 2008 year-end album list.

“It’s done something like, over 10,000 copies sold, which is hard these days because of all the downloading,” Young said.

Not bad for not being actual musicians.

The band’s show at the recently revived VFW basement on Feb. 21 promises to be a one-two punch of nostalgia; one for the fact the VFW is doing shows again, and two because drummer Justin Francis is a Fargo native.

“We used to go [to Fargo] every once in a while so he could hang out with his friends,” Young said. “Now we’re finally going to try to get back there more often.”

SHOW INFO:

9 p.m. doors / 10 p.m. show
21+, $5