Boilermaker – Not Enough Time To Get Anything Halfway Done Box Set - Blue Vinyl

Numero Group (2024, Reissue)

I was reasonably plugged in to a lot of music that was happening in the mid 90s.  I followed as much as I could and bought as much as I could afford.  Yet despite my best efforts, there are bands that slipped through the cracks for me and Boilermaker is one of them.  You'd think that being from southern California would have helped get them on my radar considering how much I tried to follow what was happening in San Diego, but it wasn't until many years after they stopped playing that I had even heard of them, let alone heard them.  Full disclosure, listening to this box set was the first time I have heard the vast, vast majority of these songs.

But it's records like this that I think the phrase "better late than never" was invented for.  Boilermaker is a pretty great band.  They're in that post punk, emo adjacent wheelhouse if you want to throw around genre specifications that don't really mean a whole hell of a lot any more.  What I can say, in my dumb way, is that they're a noisy rock band, that has just enough melody to make their angst palatable to me.  There are times, particularly in the vocals, that I'm reminded of fellow California cohorts, No Knife.  There are other times where the vibes feel more midwestern in nature, bringing to mind new label mates and last week's box set stars Boys Life.

As with most Numero offerings, this box set is a triumph.  Complete to a fault with all of their albums and an singles along with some demos and live material.  The box set itself is gorgeous with their usual perfectly executed liner notes book that helps tell the story of this band.  The closest thing I have to a complaint is that two of the songs are included on a bonus 7" that went out to the first 500 orders and those songs aren't part of the larger box set.  I have the 7", so I'm good - but it is a little strange to me that it feels like an add on.  I'm sure there's a reason for that, I'm just not sure what it is.  Other than that minor quibble, it's another home run from Numero.

Boilermaker – Not Enough Time To Get Anything Halfway Done:
https://boilermakernumero.bandcamp.com/album/not-enough-time-to-get-anything-halfway-done