What is this that has landed in my hands from the Friedrichshain punk rock label PUKE MUSIC? A band whose debut is titled “Mit Leib und Kehle” and who are drowning (themselves) in beer on the cover. And then they scream “Totally perverse, thanks to alcohol,” do they want to be the successors of Pöbel & Gesocks, or did just five idiots accidentally land a record deal?
LUCKY PUNCH comes from the Berlin area, a region that the locals simply call “Speckgürtel.” The band has been causing a stir since 2009.
The five-piece offers thirteen songs on their debut.
Musically, they move between early Gumbels, Berliner Weisse, Pöbel & Gesocks, and Eisenpimmel.
Class is foreign to the band.
It’s all about beer, sex, and the urges that a man has.
This is not for the faint-hearted.
It’s hard to listen to the band sober because somehow the lyrics just don’t hit. However, with a few beers in your system, it looks different. The band is fun in itself, but at times it lacks a bit of class. Even if it might be hard for the Brandenburg boys, there’s a nicer way to express what men like to do, namely “checking out tits,” than with a chorus that simply repeats the song title. The local heroes can do this, as their song “Herz aus Gold” shows, which the band from Mülheim an der Ruhr sings:
…big tits, heart of gold…that’s what I’ve always wanted.
Sounds more charming and nicer.
LUCKY PUNCH leans too much into the tasteless trash corner for my liking. The band should really consider whether they want to continue down this path.
That the band can actually do something is proven in the ballad “…der Grund ist meistens eine Frau” or the truly trashy-cool “Cheri, Chery Lady” with an outro by Dieter Bohlen. “Zu viele Triebe” is also not bad. A song about first love.
The album can best be described as “pubescent 20-year-olds making Oi-Punk with fun but (almost) without class and decency.” Some things are good on the record, but much needs to improve.
If you like Berliner Weisse, Gumbles, and Pöbel & Gesocks, you should give the band a try.
The rest, well…better keep your distance, unless you find it offensive and want to start the next discussion group of the politically correct, trying to change the world with a lack of fun, then just stick with LUCKY PUNCH.
