Way back in 1995, my high school band played the biggest shows of its career. One of which was a sort of secret show at a place called the Ballard Playhouse with none other than Less Than Jake! We were definitely the worst band there and all the kids just sat on the floor while we played. After us, a band called Bumpin' Uglies took the stage and taught us an important lesson: just ask the kids to stand up. Duh. Whenever I drive by the (former) Ballard Playhouse, I get smashed in the face with punk rock nostalgia.

That nostalgia is probably why I bought this record. I swore we played with both bands at some point, but my written record of my high school adventures in music shows it was just the B-side band, Bumpin' Uglies. Man, what a terrible name. However, the songs aren't too bad. The tracks by them on this split are a bit of a mix between Rancid melodies and Mighty Mighty Bosstones vocals. I wish I had the lyrics sheet, but my copy didn't come with one. It sounds kind of like they're in my wheelhouse with a perhaps anti-televangelism song, a song about you darn kids, and a song that starts "1, 2, 3, TOAST!".

Blue Collar is some sloppy male/female crust punk, ala Blatz. Melody is not particularly important, yelling is paramount. Rhythm is not super critical, volume is. You know, like good fun punk should be. Their first track is a For just a bit, I thought the second half of the second song was a cover of a Cringer song that I love ("Rain"), but then it gets weird and kind of hair metal screamy. The final song has some interesting yell-along parts. I think the chorus goes "Aaaaaaah! Fight fight fight fight! AAAAAAAAH! Oi oi oi!". Actually, I think that's my favorite track on this record. No messing around, just some good ol' blue collar fight song.

As with many nostalgic things, perhaps this record was best left in the bins and I could have imagined great things instead. Instead, I'm brought down by some pretty generic punk.

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