Originally published in Verbicide issue #5

At long last: pop-punk that rocks — and it comes straight from the frozen north (ie, “Canada”). After a long wait, the trio from Toronto are finally releasing their full-length label debut, featuring some very memorable tunes. Track five, “Fake Girl,” is probably the catchiest and most sarcastic song of the year, with an incredible mid-song breakdown. On track six, “Starbucks Sucks,” SWN speaketh the truth. There are some great cover songs originally by those fun-loving ’80s girls, Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” and Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita” (oh yeah, Madonna is still around…).

The best track, though, is the ode to former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher, “Dave Stieb”: “Mr. Stieb, you taught me everything I know!/About the baseball, ‘bout the chickies, you are so smart,/I wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart!” The song then concludes with the radio broadcast announcing Dave Stieb’s no-hitter (the first and only in Blue Jays history) on September 2, 1990. Fastmusic is coming back and bringing some Canucks with ‘em.

(Fastmusic, PO Box 206512, New Haven, CT 06520)