Release Date: 1986
Song Count: 12
Duration: 35 minutes, 48 seconds
Rating: 6.3/10
Description:
A trip to exactly 40 years back emerges as this project's next destination, as this year's Pi day also now marks the day the since-disbanded Canadian hardcore punk band SNFU gets their spot in the limelight with their second album. Though it is known that the songs within If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish were recorded in around April 1986, the exact release date beyond it just lining up on that same year remains largely unknown, shrouding this LP in a bit of curious mystery. An extensive glance into the state of the punk rock scene in the western world at the time, this album is about as stylistically faithful and raw as it gets within its cultural, musical and timely circle, and embodies its subgenre in all of its forms whilst also acting as a sort of pioneer in the creation of skate punk music as a classification in particular.
Following a pattern of playing guitars and drums at a classic punk beat and groove with a consistent, rapid tempo across every song, the record comes out swinging from the very beginnings of its runtime and practically never steers off its set track. The rock instruments being played display a solid amount of talent channelled into them, and are almost sufficient in giving the music a simplistic yet classic and timeless feel, were it not for the vocals kicking in in the tracks. Band member Ken Chinn's energetic singing, as matching of the rest of the music's pace and rushing feeling as it was, is produced and mixed into the final tracks in a way that makes them being dated extremely clear in hindsight, and as a result, it becomes the main aspect holding it back from thriving further as a punk art work.
With how Ken Chinn's public presence as an early queer figure in music as well as the band on its own influenced elements of the culture around it at the time towards further social progress, there is more than plenty respect to hold for SNFU's musical outputs, and this album is no different. In spite of its flawed nature in terms of quality, listenability and revisitability, it is near-impossible to deny that there is also an unbridled charm and spirit caught within the dozen of speedy, rebellious and hyper tracks that is If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish, making it truly indicative of the intents and passion portrayed by those involved in making it surrounding the zeitgeist of the '80s decade. An interesting work to take in all around, especially considering its outside contexts, even if the musical output itself ends up rather unrefined and leaving a bit more to be desired.