Never Look Back

Never Look Back

Back in the mid-'80s, Northern California’s Caustic Notions were often snubbed and ridiculed by many San Jose and San Francisco punk bands because they hailed from Saratoga – a posh little town known for its wineries, high-end boutiques and Bloomberg Businessweek naming it the most expensive suburb in California. But as Caustic Notions’ 1985 debut reveals, the band’s blend of skate-punk and West Coast hardcore played almost as authentically as the recordings of less fortunate sons in similar bands. The title-track opens taking cues from the Faction as frontman Devin Mauldin inflects with a disaffected cool, similar to the singing style of Gavin O’Brien. The mellower and even melodic “Out of the Crowd” recalls later-day Agent Orange and TSOL but with Caustic Notion’s own vocal call-and-response making the chorus more dynamic. “Depressed Girl” muses on the shadowy goth girls who patronized a local coffee shop called the Upstart Crow, while “I’m Your President” is a dual imitation of San Francisco sludge and the anti-Ronald Reagan punk that was so prevalent then, it could be considered a subgenre.

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