Elder Abuse - Born To Lose (p)review

Elder Abuse are a punk rock band from Canada whose members have 'been around the block' in countless other bands (including drummer Dan Donald of Daggermouth) but they have not lost the drive or passion for creating music, judging by debut release Born To Lose. Fans of Daggermouth will always be hoping for more hardcore-influenced pop punk fare from ex members, and Elder Abuse provide healthy doses of this, in amongst a melting pot of other genres that may not suit all punk palettes.

From the start the dueling influences are there to hear, with the emotionally charged vocals of Tropical Song contrasting oddly with the slightly lethargic pace of the music. But around the 30 second mark the song kicks off, with some well placed drum fills and a second layer of vocals that really make the song. A breakdown soon follows and the song keeps improving from there.

Rex Manning Day is next and it's my probably the best song alongside the previously released Worst Case Ontario. The lyrics will soon be Photoshopped onto images of bleak Canadian wilderness and plastered across Tumblr, if there's any justice in this crazy world. Melodic punk rock with emotional lyrics is a recipe for success!

There are times that Elder Abuse dip into some kind of post hardcore/troo pop punk territory, slowing things down to play ringing chords or melancholy guitar licks. This isn't really for me, but if it reaches the right ears, it could help fill the void Basement have left.

All in all, this is a band with a lot of potential. I'm cringing at how condescending and patronising this might sound, considering the history of the band members, but Born To Lose has the raw enthusiasm associated with the first release of a new band. When the hardcore, pop punk and skate punk elements are blended, there are few bands at the moment who are better at this than Elder Abuse. The vocals are best used with faster paced melodic songs whereas I feel the slower sections lose purpose slightly and meander rather than flow.

If you wish Transit were ballsier you'll probably like the slower songs, if you wish Off With Their Heads had a baby with Daggermouth, you'll like the faster songs. Listen to Elder Abuse here and on their bookface. Keep an eye on State of Mind Records for the release date.

Rating: 7/10

blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals - See more at: http://www.gooddaysandcliches.com/2013/09/check-out-elder-abuse-ex-daggermouth.html#sthash.rDyIe3ti.dpuf

blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals - See more at: http://www.gooddaysandcliches.com/2013/09/check-out-elder-abuse-ex-daggermouth.html#sthash.rDyIe3ti.dpuf

blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals - See more at: http://www.gooddaysandcliches.com/2013/09/check-out-elder-abuse-ex-daggermouth.html#sthash.rDyIe3ti.dpuf

blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals - See more at: http://www.gooddaysandcliches.com/2013/09/check-out-elder-abuse-ex-daggermouth.html#sthash.rDyIe3ti.dpuf

blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals - See more at: http://www.gooddaysandcliches.com/2013/09/check-out-elder-abuse-ex-daggermouth.html#sthash.rDyIe3ti.dpuf

blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals - See more at: http://www.gooddaysandcliches.com/2013/09/check-out-elder-abuse-ex-daggermouth.html#sthash.rDyIe3ti.dpuf

Check out ELDER ABUSE (ex Daggermouth)

Elder Abuse blend 90s Epifat skate punk, modern pop punk and hardcore-influenced melodic vocals. Sounds sweet, right? It's pretty much skate punk played by better songwriters, or pop punk played by less socially awkward dudes. I've heard a few bands that seem to be doing variations of these influences and I’m hoping it becomes a thing. I also noticed that Elder Abuse had a few Irish bands listed in their influences, which confused the fuck out of me for a while.

Their drummer Dan, (ex – Daggermouth, in case you need another reason to check these guys out) filled me in on how the band started, the Irish connection and how their name isn’t a reference to beating up defenceless old people! Let’s start with a generic band biography.

Elder Abuse has dudes spanning from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, It's a little weird but its working for us right now. We play fast and catchy punk rock drawing influences from older skate punk bands like Lagwagon and NOFX up to newer pop punk bands. We all have a firm background in the hardcore scene, so that influence still rings true sometimes in some of our tunes. 

Dat name! What's up with it? Were all the other punk names taken, or is it a MILF thing?

The name haha… well I think we all kicked it around for a bit and weren't really to sure what to think of it, and eventually we decided we thought it was funny. Its sort of a playful shot at our parents more than anything, a few of us are getting on in age and its sort of a joke about how parents of people who have spent years in bands have had to put up with all kinds of painful shit that other parents will never have to experience haha. It definitely has nothing to do with the actual abuse of the geriatric, which we in absolutely no way condone haha. If people want to take it that way, then fuck em, they are just dinks that want to find something else to get offended by. 

Who's in the band and what bands have you all been in before?

The band consists of 5 dudes, sometimes we interchange some fill in guys..so it almost makes 6 dudes depending on the circumstances. I have played for quite a few bands in the past, probably the most notable past bands I played in Daggermouth, Withdrawal, Frustration - a bit of that Irish connection haha - and a few more, the other dudes mostly did roadie duties for Withdrawal, one of the dudes that helps us out plays in an awesome band from Saskatoon called Castaway, our guitarist played in a version of the California band Heart To Heart and our other guitarist played in sort of a crusty hardcore band from northern Manitoba called Good Things. 

How did Elder Abuse start?

The band started with my best friend from high school hitting me up to jam around, i'd put him off forever and finally had an opportunity to hang out and try out some tunes, It was slow going and we all thought it was just a big goof at first, the awful demos of our first material! I was so drunk I barely got through the material haha. But eventually as we were hanging out more and writing more we started to get into the shit that was coming together and decided to take a serious try at it and start touring and making shit happen.

Was there a set sound you were going for or did it happen organically? What I've heard so far seems pretty well conceived and put together.

We were definitely confused at first haha, we knew we were gonna stay in a punk rock area, but I think we all had some different ideas at first and then it sorta turned into a more gruff vocal styled pop punk. So yeah, I'd definitely say it sort of just organically came together as we all got comfortable with each other.

What's the Irish link in the band? I'm guessing Frustration and Bang Bros aren't universally known in the Canadian prairies?!

As far as the Irish connection, I met Nelly from Frustration when he was living in Van, we got to be pals and then as the years went on, I was finished with Withdrawal and never actually got the chance to tour overseas. Neal hit me up and said "You should come over and fuck with this tour we are doing with Cornered." So I ended up doing two UK and Mainland tours with Frustration playing drums, that shit was awesome. That's how i got familiar with Bang Bros and Nibiru and all the boys over there. 

What are the plans for releasing and touring?

As soon as Born to Lose is finally released we plan on pushing it, We have some western Canadian shows in the next couple months as well as our first stab at the Southern west coast coming up in November with our pals in Anchorless. We have some east coast plans for after Christmas but we are still working them out.

Listen to Elder Abuse here or be their 667th like on their bookface.