Reviews

I was in Missouri about two years ago, flipping through channels, when I came across JC-TV. They had some tattooed, hard rockin’ band with perfectly messed up hair singing about how Jesus brought light to their lives. The interview that followed largely focused on bringing spirituality to the young people. JC-TV is basically MTV tailored for a Christian audience, which brings me to my point: too often, modern Christian rock is music somebody else originally made that’s tailored to correspond with Christian values. And well, Flatfoot 56 is just that.
 
The Chicago band is comprised of the three Bawinkel brothers plus multi-instrumentalist Josh Robieson. They are essentially the mid-90s Celtic punk pioneered by bands like Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly and the Real McKenzies, wrapped up in Christian ideology. But they do it well. On Jungle of the Midwest Sea, Flatfoot 56 showcases a variety of well-integrated sounds, tempos and influences. For some of the slower songs they use some light mandolin over pounding electric guitars or a melodic acoustic guitar with fiddle. For the higher tempo songs, they employ rapid bagpipe over steady drumming and speedy guitar.
 
Content-wise, these guys managed to compromise punk attitude and Christian values fairly well. While they do stumble into a few love songs to the almighty, explaining how dark life is without him, they do write some pretty honest punk rock lyrics without towing any Christian line. In “Loaded Gun,” they represent the accepting attitude of Jesus, which is a nice refresher from the dominant discourse Christianity has taken in America.
 
All accounted, these guys write quality songs. There’s a lot of chanting, catchy choruses, and rollicking melodies. Everything is put together well—rhyming lyrics to album art. Frontman Tobin Bawinkel even sounds like a throat-worn Irish singer. All the pieces fit perfectly…a little too perfectly. They found the pattern to Celtic-influenced punk rock and then played it to form. I don’t know if I can commend it, but I can’t tear it down.
 
Wow, I made it through that whole review without mentioning South Park once—not even a single reference to Cartman’s Faith + 1 lyrics and the whole ‘salvation all over my face thing.’ That’s class right there.