Latterman - '...We Are Still Alive'

[Still angry that they broke up.]

Heart can take you pretty far. It worked for Rocky Balboa, and it’s certainly working for Huntington, N.Y. punk band Latterman. Constant touring with a dash of Internet buzz has helped raise the band’s notoriety, and it doesn’t hurt that Latterman have recorded some of the best punk jams of the new millennium. The positive vibes and strong self-determination of 2005’s No Matter Where We Go…! offered a brief but brilliant burst of rock that earned the band nods from many a music critic and music fan alike.

A year has gone by since that album, and 2006 offers …We Are Still Alive, which is a direct sequel of sorts to No Matter Where We Go…!. It even finishes the other’s sentence.

…We Are Still Alive continues the “we can do it” ethos of No Matter We Go…!, but does so with far more memorable tunes. Sure, part of what made Matter so fun was its giddy speed and brevity, but those qualities also make it hard to remember more than, say, half the album, really. But the songs on Alive are exactly that, alive. They’re fully fleshed out and ready to make slam dancers pound terra firma.

Album opener “Water Manes at the Block’s End” starts off with sparse xylophone, but swiftly brings in some guitar to liven up the mood. The song is instantly recognizable as a Latterman piece: it’s got all the urgency of Against Me! and The Lawrence Arms, but without any folk influences or random historical references. It’s also ridiculously dramatic, opening with the line, “And if we ran a million miles to get to this place, we’ll keep the pace.” The song also has a nice little guitar solo thrown in, so props for that.

The rest of the album continues to explore personal strength, as well as the band’s experiences playing around the country. “Mumbled Words and Ridiculous Faces” asks why the band soldiers on, while “‘I Decided Not to Do Them’” reminds them that Huntington isn’t like it used to be.

But despite the road weariness that follows the band, “If Batman Was Real, He Would Have Beaten the Crap Out Of My Friends” reveals how alive the band feels. Punk rock has become more than just a musical genre; it’s a lifestyle, one which offers comfort and purpose.

Latterman chides those who think punk died with The Sex Pistols, saying, “If you think punk’s dead, you haven’t met my friends. They’re always at it again and again.” When the song ends with the emphatic “Let’s make our homes in each other’s hearts,” one can’t help but feel it, man.

One thing that fits Latterman perfectly is gang vocals. The songs are so infectiously energetic and optimistic that the tracks pull in and grow from extra voices. On the band’s first album, Turn Up the Punk, We’ll Be Singing, closing track “For Someone So Easy Going, You Sure Wear Pants a Lot” concluded with the line “…and the strength is always there” repeated over and over by a wide array of singers with different styles. Just as that song sums up Latterman, so too does the closing track for …We Are Still Alive, “Will This Be On the Test?”. The band swells like the tide as men and women come together to shout, “If today the ground gives in, I hope we don’t fall alone.”

So basically, …We Are Still Alive is a document of the punk “up with people” mentality, a pseudo-biography about Latterman, a 30-minute pep talk, a rockin’ good time and proof that punk bands can shred, too. That’s a mighty hearty serving for any listener.