Review: The Bare Minimum- Where the Buses Don't Come

Rock Music is known to be in a state of flux nowadays. With declining album sales, and an almost daily article written by music writers proclaiming how Hip Hop has overtaken Rock's mantle as the youth's music, make it seem like it's become a bygone era. 

However, looking at ticket sales and the still vibrant attendance of rock concerts, it seems like it never went away. It also can be said that Rock has become a legacy music, much like Jazz. 

Jazz festivals still happen, musicians release albums, but it's not on the mainstream radar. 

At the same time, it can be said that innovation isn't happening in much of the rock world, not to mention metal world. Bands recycle older styles and are influenced by bands 10, 20, 30, and 40 years old. My own music is no exception. However, this isn't always a bad thing if done well and with a passion that transcends it. Rock has little to do that it hasn't done before, even if novelty sub-genres like Death Metal Polka (if one doesn't count some of the Folk Metal bands) called “DOLKA”have still yet to be created, but I digress. 

The Bare Minimum are a Punk influenced act from Toronto Canada who definitely personify a look to the past. But it's not a bad thing. The first song "Safe Bet" blasts it's way out of your speakers and it's apparent from the start this is definitely melodic hardcore punk that exudes hooks to go along with it's aggression. Outdoor Cat follows and other than a few slower interludes it's much from the same stripe, though the cool spy guitarish riff makes it stand out more. 

"Hollow Animals" features a darker metalesque riff with some cool spacey leads.

One thing that makes the band good are the vocals of vocalist/guitarist Cam Gray, a wail that does not stoop to commercial mediocrity, yet retains the catchiness and aggression prominent, almost reminding one if Dexter Holland and Tom Araya had a lovechild, but I mean this with all due respect.

Speaking of that, I do recall at first thinking that the band reminded me of something that would've come out on Nitro or Epitaph Records back in the mid-nineties, at a time when Green Day and the Offspring were guiding record company suits to their more obscure (some would say superior), compatriots or influences, The Bare Minimum at first reminded me of such a band. As the album progressed though, I found other influences and directions that lead me to remind me of other things as well. 

For one thing, The Bare Minimum do not have ANY of the annoying tendencies with music or production that would normally appear in a band playing this style in modern times. This puts them more in line with the classic scenes and bands from the Eighties, before many Punk bands started sounding like a bad parody of Bad Religion. 

"Trainwreck" features vocals that recall Lemmy of Motorhead, and a Motorhead influenced thrasher ensues. "Safety Pin" is back to more traditional pastures but has some really metal influenced leadwork. 

In a way, the leads that populate the album definitely reveal this band as having metal influences that would put them in the "Crossover" camp back in the day, but instead of a "Crossover" to thrash metal, it's more of a crossover to classic metal and classic hard rock. 

"Broad Daylight" and "Punk Rock Is A Pyramid Scheme" close out the album, with no less of the energy of the previous songs diminished.

The Bare Minimum is definitely an example of a band playing a well-worn style of music. 

However, they do it with enough originality, passion, and panache, not to mention melody (in a non-superficial way) to be a good example of one doing so. 

And today, that's often more refreshing than being some edgy subgenre of a subgenre of a subgenre of a genre.

 The Bare Minimum do not just provide the bare minimum, they definitely provide hooks, energy, and are a band to definitely watch for in the future.You can find out about The Bare Minimum from the following links: 

https://thebareminimumband.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-buses-dont-come

http://www.thebareminimum.ca/