Gameday Regulars

Nobody Likes a Quitter (2013)

Brian Shultz

It's hard to argue the case of a band that probably sounds so much like everything a so-called punk lifer has potentially grown sick of. So it can only be strongly emphasized that with their newest digital offering, Bronx, NY's Gameday Regulars have taken a substantial step forward from their promising 2011 effort, …But It's Hell in the Hallway, to certify themselves as one of the definitively best acts doing the post-Leatherface, gravelly-voiced, melodic punk thing.

The choruses on the first two songs of Nobody Likes a Quitter are so dynamite you'd almost suspect these guys have co-writers. "Kids of the Cove" bears the sort of infectious, emotionally worn sing-along you might have heard on Red City Radio's The Dangers of Standing Still, while the more aggressive "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is a perfect paean to post-No Divison Hot Water Music. But the band break the mold of PBR-clad fist-pumps on the EP's longest, the four-minute "Split the City," via a vulnerable and surprisingly critical couplet: "I never had a drink / that I loved."

While Quitter admittedly feels strangely top-heavy for a four-song EP, the proverbial "B" side is a stately comedown, with the closing hook of the aforementioned "Split the City" resonating nicely. Absolutely worth checking out.

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Nobody Likes a Quitter