Contraband was a short-lived trio from Bridgeport that played a style of hook filled melodic punk, sometimes fast enough to approach early So-Cal punk, but definitely informed by what I call the “Connecticut sound”. They wrote some fairly memorable tracks on their sole LP, and had two fantastic entries on the Connecticut Fun comp. “Red Lights Over St. V’s” is probably my favorite track on that comp, and that’s saying a lot.
Tragedy did strike the band, although posthumously, as they had already broken up when drummer Rich Salvo passed from an embolism in 1996, and in 1997, Jeff Roberts died in an accident. They did have a second album in the works, though it was never released, sadly. It would have been interesting to see what direction the second album would have taken, as they had some catchy song writing ability, and on the second half of 1986’s “Girls of All Nations”, (presumably recorded at a second session, as the sound differs a bit), they veer towards longer, more post-punk and rock type stuff, even touching a bit on Fugazi style vocal treatments for the track ’Spirit’.
Jeff Roberts was also involved on the technical/recording side with releases by Wide Awake and Reflex in Pain, as well as some guitar work for Adrenaline O.D. (I think of AOD as an honorary Connecticut band) and the mighty 76% Uncertain.
Speaking of the “Girls of All Nations” album as a whole, side 1 starts off with five faster paced songs in the aforementioned hook filled punk style, each with interesting lyrics that sit in a personal, not political, vein. Things slow down with tracks six and seven, bringing in a bit of a garagey/surf guitar sound and kind of fall apart song-wise.
Side 2, as mentioned previously, seems to have a different mix, being a bit louder, while the drums are punchy s hell, and gated. The performances are pretty tight and punchy on both sides, but side two seems to see the band stretching out rhythmically, but also rocks a little bit more, channeling college rock and the Ramones. The album is pretty hard to find, and will cost you a good chunk, but is a great set of songs that defined the Connecticut scene in it’s own way.
Favorite track: “Chantal”
*Biographical info was drawn from Discogs and last.fm
Comments
Post a Comment