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Justin Kopala photography by Alkan Emin for HUF Magazinehttp://hufmagazine.com/justin-kopala-photography-by-alkan-emin-for-huf-magazine/

#Alkan Emin #Elena Pacienza #James Levesque #Justin Kopala

Agent Orange - Living in Darkness (1981) review

Agent Orange is an American punk rock band formed in 1979 by three men who dared to wonder what would happen if Dick Dale had picked up a cocaine habit and an appreciation for nihilistic sociopolitical commentary. Often accredited with being one of the first bands to infuse punk rock with surf music, the band mix the heavy reverb and Phrygian Phuckery of one genre with the aggression and speed of another. Living in Darkness is Orange’s debut, and although it’s one of the more important albums in punk history, often gets overlooked for other, less viscerally punky records of the time period. Somewhere between the ultra-simplified rock tunes of The Ramones and the shouty chaos of Discharge, Agent Orange’s in-the-middle approach sometimes get lost in the mix, but make no mistake that these guys are just as legendary as the aforementioned groups.

Vocalist/guitarist Mike Palm’s voice is as quintessentially “my hair is uneven on purpose and I hate authority” as someone like Johnny Rotten but with more of the “actually able to take seriously” thing that ol’ Lydon somewhat lacks. He shouts and talk-sings with a frenzied and hoarse but unmistakably youthful voice. and I’d be hard-pressed to find a singer more appropriate to spit these lyrics with as much vitriol as him. His guitar playing, while nothing too technical (again, punk rock, folks), is extremely unique in all of its weird Egyptian Surf Punk™ eccentricities and buzzsaw tone, and I don’t think the album would have as much of the uniqueness it does without it (his solos are top-notch stuff). Bassist James Levesque is legitimately very talented, only following the guitars when necessary and otherwise noodling more of those Egyptian Surf Punk™ licks under Palm’s riffs and solos (his decidedly non-punk playing style combined with his spiffy haircut and propensity for glammy sunglasses tells me Levesque might not have been much of a punk man at heart). Drummer Scott Miller keeps up with some pretty inventive fills and beats, possessing a certain swing to his playing that all too many punk drummers lack, but maintaining a rigidity about him that keeps the rhythm in check. I read in an interview with Miller that when playing live, he would always attempt to play the songs exactly as they appeared on the record while Levesque would improvise constantly, and it shows in their playing styles.

As mentioned previously, the album is rife with lyricism about society, disillusionment, angst, self-loathing, and other topics that fit perfectly with the sunny beach-going atmosphere of surf. Despite that, you can tell straight away that this album is truly “real”; it isn’t an attempt to cash in on the punk craze of pseudo-societal lyrics, this is the unfiltered anger of disenfranchised youth in aural form. The band’s most famous cut, Bloodstains (which appears on most versions of this album TWICE, one fast and furious and one more stompy and controlled), is the most blatant of the bunch in all of its grit-tooth talk-singing and rough edges. On the other hand, songs like Everything Turns Grey and The Last Goodbye (two of my personal favourite punk songs ever) are very melodic, chill-inducing and rather catchy, and Palm never fails to add something interesting to each song, whether it be the ultra-fast double vocal tracks in A Cry For Help In A World Gone Mad, the unstable whispering and snarling in No Such Thing, the complete reinvention of Dick Dale’s Miserlou, or the really unfortunate pig shriek in the slower version of Bloodstains.

I only have two major complaints here and one would be the LENGTH of these songs. I know it’s punk and therefore susceptible to having songs that are roughly as long as Sinead O’Connor’s hair, but nothing short of the title track breaks three minutes, and some tend to end a chorus repeat or two shy of a full song. My other, and less major, complaint would be in the production, which serves pretty well for the guitar and even the bass, but neuters the drums completely and leaves Miller banging on what sounds like paper bags and wet cardboard masquerading as a drum kit. Miller’s playing is nothing short of awesome, so if the drums weren’t as flat and unthreatening as they ended up being, this album would be all the better for it.

If you want to hear a punk masterpiece in the time it takes you to eat breakfast and shower in the morning, pick up Living in Darkness. This is a bleak yet red-hot piece of music that I would place very high in the pantheon of punk rock classics, and at the very least it’s worth a quick skim through because you’re likely to enjoy one or two songs here, and the surf atmosphere is infectious. Hell, considering the prevalence of skateboarding imagery in early punk rock, I wouldn’t be surprised if Palm and company just figured surfboards were skateboards sans wheels and ran with it

"I wish I could but it's too late for senseless minds that love to hate”

#agent orange #mike palm #james levesque #scott miller #review