This is without a doubt the hardest MRR Free Box Review for me to do thus far. That’s because I want to like this demo, but I don’t care for it very much.
I’m not sure what to label this subgenre of punk. Something about Securicor reminds me of one of my least favorite punk bands of all time, Clit 45. I’m not very familiar with their music, but if you haven’t seen the scene from Star Wait where one of them gets decked by a Star Wars fan, prepare to feast your eyes.
‘Go back to Hot Topic, you bitch.’ Oh man, I love it. And those fuckers deserved it too. If that’s the way they treat Star Wars fans, then they’re a disgrace to everything punk should be.
Anyway, it’s totally unfair of me to lump Securicor in with Clit 45. Securicor dresses very ’77 style punk, and in a way that probably isn’t cheap. That’s the only real common ground I know they have with Clit 45. That’s a silly thing to dislike a band for. Dressing punk is fun and I oughtn’t have nothing against it. In fact, Securicor clearly takes aim at the idea that punk is more a fashion concept than anything else in their liner notes, where they show a picture of a punk rock Halloween costume. If I saw anybody buying that I’d think they were a total schmo.
I really ought to start talking about the demo at some point in this review.
All illogical bad vibes aside, I feel like this demo tape shows a band that hasn’t found a focus. It’s hard for me to describe exactly what I don’t like about it, and let me reiterate that I really wish I could say I liked this demo. I get no joy from giving bad reviews. What I think this demo is missing is a sense of individuality. It seems to me like this band wants to recapture the energy and excitement of the ’77 punk rock scene (Crass, The Sex Pistols, Anti-Nowhere League, etc.), but it’s not coming to fruition for two reasons. First, the things that were exciting and iconoclastic in 1977 now seem bland and unoriginal. For example, comparing Margret Thatcher and Ronald Regan to Adolf Hitler was shocking in it’s time. Now, comparisons of every world leader to Hitler are so common they have a term for it. The second reason why this doesn’t work, is that, recapturing another wave of punk or not, I don’t feel like Securicor has found the individuality they need to make their band interesting. Earlier in this review I mentioned Crass, The Sex Pistols, and Anti-Nowhere League. All those bands are from the same generation of punk rock, and they have things in common, but they are also completely distinct from one another. You could never put on a Crass record and have it mistaken for The Sex Pistols. Securicor doesn’t seem to have cut their own path quite yet.
Securicor guitarist and singer Dez (I didn’t get his last name, if he has one) mentioned in an email to me that the demo was put out a while ago, and they have a new recording that demonstrates that the band’s gone in a new direction. That sounds great to me. I’m willing to accept that the demo I’m currently reviewing was a first effort from a new and rough-around-the-edges band that hadn’t quite found their vibe yet.
Another couple of things: I think the poor recording quality of this demo gives it a nice DIY feel. And also, I think Securicor shares a band member with Krang, a really cool Chicago, IL thrash band (Not to be confused with the Dutch band of the same name.)