Ausländer

Ausländer (2014)

TomTrauma

Ausländer is not a pop—punk band, or a ska—punk band, or a post—punk band, or even a folk—punk band. Auslander is a straight up, unhyphenated punk band. The Grand Rapids, MI based trio draws most of their influence from British Oi, with a touch of American hardcore, and a Midwest sensibility. The members come from two long running GR bands. Two are from The Krabs, who put out two fine 7 inches ( Punk Crock, Working Class ) in the 90's, the other is from Ten Second March (check out "Work is the Curse of the Drinking Class" on Youtube).

Ausländer's self—titled debut is eight stripped down songs in sixteen minutes. It opens with "Bombs Away", a song about how they have nothing to lose. "Never Give it Up" is a an ode to their battered home state of Michigan. "We Don't Wanna Be" is about trying not to conform, even while acknowledging its futility. "T.F.U.M." and "Brats and Beer" are blue collar anthems. They share the sentiment of Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend", without the skin—tight, red leather pants. "I Hate Hipsters" is pretty self explanatory, but does succinctly sum up the feelings of millions of us. "For the Boys" is about the classic punk theme of brotherhood. The last song, "Auslander", is about another classic punk concept, alienation being trumped by strength in numbers.

Rust belt towns like Grand Rapids always seem to have at least a couple working class punk bands. The themes seem to resonate with their blue collar ethics. Auslander is made up of older guys with no illusions of fortune and fame. They can only be playing music for the right reasons, and this a very solid debut. No matter what the current trend, classic punk will never go out of style.