The four punk rock veterans who make up Seattle’s Taste Testors come from bands like The Briefs, Rabid Dogs, The Piniellas, The Greatest Hits and Clean Lines, to name a few. This first LP certainly retains the rock’n’roll spirit of the Pacific Northwest, but also touches on the early days of legendary clubs like CBGB.
The bouncy and melodic “What She Don’t Know Will Hurt Her” opens with plenty of tuneful punk rock, where Nils Larson’s buzzing lead guitar guides the infectious energy. The scrappy “I Don’t Want You To Fall In Love With Me” follows with Vic Sanchez’s punchy drums that suit front man Steve E’s smooth pipes.
Deeper into Side A, “I Don’t Wanna Be A Zombie” is a more muscular version of Taste Testors, but still highly melodic and with plenty of sing-alongs, and “She Looks Cool In Every Direction” makes for a swift, garage-rock influenced first half highlight.
Side B leads with “We Don’t Wanna Have Nothing To Do With You,” where head bobbin’, toe tappin’ fun is present, while “She Didn’t Tell Me She Was A Dopehead” has bassist Leif Larson and Nils Larson contributing vocal harmonies via the fuzzy delivery.
The last two songs, thankfully, are pretty similar to the eight before them. “The Last Thing I Want” touches on retro-punk ideas that you could dance to, and “Narc” exits with is a rowdy and raw blast of snotty, timeless punk flavor.
At just 18 minutes, this one’s over before it starts, and, in the grand tradition of all things punk, if you don’t like a song, well, there’s a new one coming real quick. There’s no denying significant nods from Ramones present, but the garage rock, bubblegum-pop, So-Cal punk and doo-wop traces sure do help separate Taste Testors from the legions of others influenced by Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy.
