Indie band ‘The Soft Pack’ keeps their charisma in second album

Formerly known as The Muslims, The Soft Pack contradict their name with their new self titled sophomore album. These San Diego-based punk rockers changed their name in 2009, but that hasn’t caused them to desert their signature sound. In their debut album, “Heavenly,” The Soft Pack used a raw ’60s rock ‘n roll resonance to draw in listeners. In their new self-titled album, they’ve managed to keep their ’60s leather studded underground punk charisma.

The Soft Pack’s album recipe is somewhat complicated: start with a little Beatnik strut, add a little of Johnny Ramone’s swift down beat barre chords, toss in some Ray Bans, leather jackets and finish it off with a few outdated knitted graphic sweaters. The result: a quartet of young Californian men attempting to bring punk back to the good old days.

The Soft Pack takes classic rock licks and revamps them to create hip, new sounds. To me, “Flammable” is where the album reaches its high point because of its classic sound, reminiscent of an unreleased Ramones album. The upbeat drum riffs mixed with the quickly paced guitar licks are an almost perfect introduction leading into Matt Lamkin’s regardless attitude, belting the lyrics “there was no fire, so I was fine.” This is one of the more powerful tracks on the whole album because of it’s intense vibe. I’m not a hardcore punkster, but “Flammable” has a rowdy sound that would make anyone jump into a crowd full of skin-tight ripped denim and mosh until their worn canvas shoes can’t take it any longer.

The Southern California sounds used in The Soft Pack’s new album are throwbacks to surf bands such as the Rivingtons and the Beach Boys. The seventh track,“Tides of Time,” begins with an authentic surf rock guitar lick. They completely adapt the early ’60s surfer youth sound into their own. This use of channeling the past through music can easily be compared to The B-52’s, a band whose infamous thrift store wear and beehives forever influenced the post-punk underground scene. Even though “Tides of Time” sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all of the other underground punk inspired tracks, it adds some California charm to the album.

The Soft Pack has produced a raw punk-revival album that transports listeners aboard a time-machine destined to arrive in the early ’60s. Throughout the 10 tracks, The Soft Pack tries to capture what created a bridge between the late ’50s and early ’60s, while still staying original to who they are as artists. They use sharp tongues lyrics in the third track “Answer to Yourself.” “You got a rabbit in your hat, you got a trick up your sleeve,” is sarcastically sung by Lamkin as Brian Hill’s drumming rumbles in the background. The lyrics in each track add a refreshing sense of the band’s rogue humor.

I wasn’t expecting these rule breaking rockers to be capable of producing a break-up song because of their edgy persona, which somehow ended up as the second to last track on the album. Even with that said, “Mexico” still keeps the listener hungry for more. The beginning riffs make me feel as though I’m standing in a California high-school during my senior year in ’61; my boyfriend just dumped me at our senior prom and the Soft Pack is playing our song. “I’m letting you go,” Lamkin sings as the sulky guitar chords play in the background.

I was let down by The Soft Pack’s conclusion to such a high-kicking alternative album. It was easy to press skip during a few songs, especially in between “Answer to Yourself” and “Down on Loving.” These songs had similar repetitive melodies. It didn’t help that they were right next to each other on the album. However, this doesn’t take much away from the album as a whole. Overall, the album packaged frequent electrified guitar riffs, energetic witty lyrics and catchy foot stomping verses.

You might not see The Soft Pack atop the alternative Billboard charts, but if you’ve been wondering where the punk-rock music scene has been these past few years, I think some shoes are bound to be filled by these California hoodlums. They identify everything punk music has been missing lately, and run with it in this album. This album has defined The Soft Pack as a more than worthy punk-rock band.