I sometimes wonder if I was a young, disaffected person today would I get into punk? I hear bands like The Animal Steel who sound like Hot Water Music and think to myself if this is what passes off as punk these days I’ll have to take a hard pass. This stuff is tepid, toothless, and all around dull. I’ve seen too many bands over the past twenty years who sound like this—often in dive bars with a bunch of bearded, drunk dudes raising their fist in allegiance to beer drinking and nothing else. It reeks of mainstream and playing it safe. Absolutely gutless. No thanks. –Matt Average (Snappy Little Numbers, snappylittlenumbers.com)