ALBUM REVIEW: It’s Just A Stage We’re Going Through – Punk Rock Factory
In a bizarre twist of fate, there is a large overlap between punk rock fans and fans of musical theatre, so what better way to create an album than to take some of the most well-known songs in musical theatre and turn them into pop-punk ballads? PUNK ROCK FACTORY are kings of turning any song into a pop-punk masterpiece – their concert setlists are a sight to behold – and for their upcoming release on 31st March, they are dedicating an 11 track album just to musical theatre.
Though their name is PUNK ROCK FACTORY, rest assured that the tracks aren’t just churned out repetitive nonsense, they are executed with innate precision. It’s not easy to turn the colossal Defying Gravity (Wicked) into a pop-punk track but somehow the band manage it. The eleven tracks on It’s Just A Stage We’re Going Through are a wild amalgamation of musical theatre covers, even the originals in a compilation playlist would be strange, but somehow PUNK ROCK FACTORY make it work.
The record opens with singles Rewrite The Stars (The Greatest Showman) and You’ll Be Back (Hamilton), which kick off the album with headstrong chutzpah before passing the baton to Waving Through A Window featuring SIMPLE PLAN’s Jeff Stinco. The song is a traditionally sombre, morose cry for help but somehow PRF have turned it into an almost battle-cry of a track – it’s an impressive transformation.
Discourse has always been high around pop-punk and punk rock genres having a ‘formula’ that bands follow to make stereotypical tracks that make them all sound the same, but PUNK ROCK FACTORY have truly broken the mould with this release. Vocalist Peej Edwards could have easily hidden between Ryan Steadman‘s crunchy chords and Andrew ‘Kob’ Robinson‘s thunderous drums and used the excuse of the genre-change to back out of the challenging vocals found on musical theatre classics, but he doesn’t. He dives headfirst into Defying Gravity, a notoriously difficult track for even the most classically trained singers, and he smashes it.
Whilst most songs on the album are tracks that are unique to the musicals from which they came, two tracks are essentially covers of covers, which is always an interesting dynamic. December 1963 (Oh What A Night!) is a cover of the Jersey Boys version, though that version already strays from the original by FRANKIE VALLI, meaning this song has really been through the ringer of changes – yet it still holds up. You can still have a good ol’ dance listening to it, but with the addition of some headbanging too, it has been altered enough to change the genre but still keep the integrity of the original.
The other cover-of-a-cover is the track Mamma Mia from the musical of the same name, and also arguably the most famous track by Swedish powerhouses ABBA. With this track being such a beloved party anthem, they could have easily gone too far and met their demise but somehow they balance the changes perfectly, adding the right amount of punk rock flavour without losing the danceability that we all know and love from Mamma Mia.
You’re The One That I Want, originally from Grease, is probably the easiest for the band to adapt to punk rock, which explains why it is one of the best tracks on the album. Benj Allison’s opening bassline is the perfect introduction to this sped-up mosh-pit inducing chaos. The track was already fast-paced and they’ve seemingly sped it up that little bit more, and in such a high vocal range it’s impressive that they can pull it off.
Normally albums tend to open and close with the strongest tracks, and whilst they certainly come out swinging at the beginning with Rewrite The Stars, PRF do end on a strange one. If they had to pick any track from Sister Act, I Will Follow Him isn’t the most logical decision. It’s a risk that doesn’t necessarily pay off. Where The One That I Want is quick-paced and chaotic, it is still completely coherent and easy to follow, I Will Follow Him, unfortunately, feels like a bit of a jumbled mess.
However, one dud track out of 11 isn’t a bad ratio at all, it’s pretty good going. Whether you’re a fan of musicals, or punk rock, or both, this album is a feel-good party-inducing release. It could be the music you play when you’re hanging out with multiple friend groups to unify them, or the music that you can use to introduce listeners of one genre to the other to bridge the gap. It genuinely can be enjoyed by a vast audience, which is exactly why PUNK ROCK FACTORY have such a growing fanbase.
Rating: 8/10
It’s Just A Stage We’re Going Through is set for release on March 31st via self-release.
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