Guttermouth

“I can’t even go to a show anymore. It’s like going to church group!” complains Guttermouth front man Mark Adkins. “Kids don’t party and drink and have fun and chuck bottles in the parking lot anymore. Their parents just pick them up and drop them off. For lack of a better term, it’s gay.”

Before you call the Political Correct police with reports of homophobia, realize that Adkins and Guttermouth have been wracking up violations of the PC code for well over a decade now. Third-grade synonyms for “stupid” aside, he and his band aren’t letting up on their latest, Eat Your Face. After all, the punk smartasses feature an ode about killing an annoying neighbor’s infant (“My Neighbor’s Baby”) and a very non-ironic (sorry hipsters) use of the hot-dog-as-penis metaphor (“Hot Dog to the Head”) on Eat Your Face. The kinder, gentler and more socially responsible punk rock of the new millennium? Guttermouth says you can stuff that notion, along with your trendy, asymmetrical hairdos. Once again, the band reminds us that before there were shopping malls pushing punk fashions and the style was a major-label cash cow, it was about pissing off as many people as possible, maybe even you included.

Along the way, the band also nails trendy punks (“The Next Faux Moheekon”), the hype that surrounds certain election-year punk rock politicizing (“Party of 2”) and goofy newbie surfers (“Surf’s Up Asshole”). Of course, every band has a couple favorite muses. For Nirvana, it was heroin and Courtney’s pasty thighs. For Guttermouth, it’s beer and hard liquor, both of which inspired a handful of party-punk tracks (“NRAAA,” “Wasted Lives” and “Second DUI”).

Everyone, including Adkins, knows Guttermouth’s lyrics won’t be quoted in lonely-kid web blogs or be hailed as the voice of a generation. Since when did punk rock become so snooty, anyway? Eat Your Face recalls the glory days when Los Angeles punkers weren’t singing about heart-wrenching, adolescent breakups or preaching electoral politics, but cynically cracking on Oki Dogs, T.V. Parties and Group Sex.

“I get bored with serious topics like ‘George Bush stinks’ and ‘The government’s a bowl of crap,’” Adkins grumbles. “‘I love you, I love you, I love you’ also bores me terribly. I’d rather make fun of all those a-holes doing that.”

In a punk world choked by do’s, don’ts and a list of scene etiquette, Guttermouth’s disdain for those rules (dare we say nihilism?) is as welcome, and gut-wrenching, as a musical Heimlich maneuver. Continuing the tradition of the Dead Milkmen and Mojo Nixon, Eat Your Face reminds listeners that there’s more to punk’s snide side than the scatological humor and sophomoric boobie jokes of the mall-punk set.

“It’s just the stand-up comedian of punk,” Adkins explains of his lyrics. “You just do cheap one-liners and attack the masses, with a nice background to it. Next thing you know, you have something going. We’re the take off your shoes band of punk. We just take off our shoes and write a record and cruise through everything.”

Did we mention Eat Your Face rocks? Really. Okay, we pulled your leg when we said that about the acoustic/electric hybrids on the band’s 2002 Epitaph Records release, Gusto, but we’re serious about Eat Your Face. Experimentation out of its system, Guttermouth hasn’t sounded nearly as snotty, witty or driven in years. Guitars blaze and clatter with La Habra’s punk and hardcore legacy while, underneath the punk-rock flotsam and jetsam, melodies playfully swim around like a school of clownfish.

No cow is sacred. No beer is safe. No line can’t be crossed. Guttermouth’s back, with another round of beers, jokes and, best of all, that don’t-give-a-damn attitude that made us fall in love with punk the first time around. That or hate it. It’s pretty much the same for Guttermouth.

Huntington Beach, CA-based punks Guttermouth formed in 1989, comprised of vocalist Mark "Mercury" Adkins, guitarists Derek Davis and Scott Sheldon, bassist Stever Rapp (who replaced original bassist Clint Weinrich), and drummer Captain James T. Nunn. Debuting a year later with the single "Puke," Guttermouth issued their debut LP, Full Length, in 1992, followed in 1994 by Friendly People, their first effort for new label Nitro Records. Guttermouth resurfaced in 1996 with Teri Yakimoto, followed a year later by Musical Monkey; their first concert LP, Live from the Pharmacy, appeared in 1998. Their sixth album, Gorgeous, was issued a year later, featuring new drummer Ty Smith; Covered with Ants followed in mid-2000, marking their first for Epitaph.

Guttermouth are studio hounds; they returned to the punk rock scene in fall 2002 when the ambitious Gusto was released, and came back for more in 2004 with the scathing Eat Your Face (with guitarist Don Horne and ex-Slick Shoes bassist Kevin Clark now on board). That same summer saw the departure of drummer Smith to concentrate on his side project Bullets and Octane; the outspoken band also reportedly got kicked off the Warped Tour in August. Adkins later clarified they left the tour by choice, sickened by the ignorant political comments spouted during various bands' sets. After departing Epitaph Records, the group was officially added to the Volcom Entertainment roster in late 2005. Busy since then, Guttermouth contributed the track "April 29th, 1992" to the Sublime tribute album Forever Free, and released their installment of the Beyond Warped Live Music Series in January 2006. The band's tenth album, Shave the Planet, appeared that August, with Adkins, Sheldon, and Horne joined by original bassist Weinrich and drummer Ryan Farrell. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide