Thomas Gun

You Probably Won't Listen to This (2016)

TomTrauma

I became a fan of Tommy Gun through his horror punk band Murder Party!. His unorthodox voice is perfectly suited for tales of misanthropes, serial killers and other terrible people. It took me a couple of listens before I warmed up to his folk punk solo stuff, but now I get it. You Probably Won’t Listen to This is a love letter to the scene he grew up in, the bands he grew up on, and the life he’s chosen.

Gun manages to cram a lot of words into these four short songs. “Starving Artist Weight-Loss Program” is a self deprecating little ditty that seems to poke a bit of fun at Gun’s current lifestyle. He manages to do so without showing even a hint of regret. “Broken Records” borrows a line from Descendents’ “Thank You” and largely shares its sentiment. It’s a sincere tribute to Gun’s influences and also contains my favorite line, “The smoky nightclubs are where I grew up in 4/4 time”. “One Hundred Bodies” speaks of playing for the one kid in a hundred who actually gets it, and how that makes it all worthwhile. “Smiling Faces” wraps things up with some thoughts on what the scene is and what it has the potential to be.

You Probably Won’t Listen to This is a good sounding, relatively straightforward recording. It’s an acoustic guitar (or two) and Gun’s half sung, half shouted vocals. (He even adds his own backing vocals.) Like everything he does, it’s very DIY. The music doesn’t shoot for any gimmicks. It simply serves as a vessel to deliver the earnest as passionate lyrics. This EP, as well as a bunch of other Thomas/Tommy Gun and Murder Party! stuff is available on Bandcamp for a name your price download. Throw him a buck or two so he can afford to continue recording these wonderful songs.