Swingin' Utters / Nothington

Bird Party [7-inch] (2018)

Pete Vincelli

Well, this was a nice little surprise. After announcing that they were calling it quits, Nothington has released one last song on a split 7-inch with fellow San Franners, Swingin’ Utters.

Swingin’ Utters start the party off with a sub-2-minute burner, “Shout It At Dem Culture.” And while the song was recorded a few years ago, it still seems fresh and very reminiscent of the modern day Utters. This is particularly because of Jack Dalrymple’s contributions on guitar and silky smooth background vocals. Despite this, you still hear the classic sound from Johnny Bonnel’s low, gravelly vocals. The song doesn’t really have a catchy melody, yet it’s still a toe tapper courtesy of the rapid down stroked rhythm, especially when you get to the chorus with the simple, yet effective, octave driven guitar lead. As a result, this may not be a song that immediately catches your attention, but it will likely grow on you.

While the Swingin’ Utters track is a good one, the focus here will most likely be on Nothington, since it is supposedly their final release. And “Covering My Tracks” is exactly what you’d expect to hear. It is classic Nothington: a catchy intro with a duel guitar attack, a somewhat muted and subdued verse with passionate vocals, which sets up the anticipation for the rowdy, sing-along chorus, and ends with a call and response between Chris and Jay. And while the track probably wasn’t meant to be their swan song, it’s hard not to recognize the irony in lyrics like “One more time down this road, I’m not looking back.”

It’s pretty cool to hear both of these bands on one release, though their sound is completely different. And the cover art and color scheme, with green vinyl, is pretty cool too. In the end, this is definitely a worthy part of any punk’s record collection.