Custody - 3 LP - Orange Vinyl (/179)

Brassneck / My Ruin / Combat Rock / Shield / Sell The Heart (2024)

I have such fondness for Custody.  In addition to being PopKid alumni (We still have a few copies of their incredible Blistered Soul 7" in the PopKid Webstore & Bandcamp) they are also perhaps the most consistent and reliable melodic punk band going. With two prior LPs and a half dozen singles under their belt, it's no surprise to me that their third full length, appropriately called 3, is another triumph.

After writing about so many of their records, it's difficult to describe their sound without repeating myself a bit.  My go to comparisons are the melodic hooks of Samiam mixed with the dynamic guitar work of Leatherface.  That's not the be all end all of what they sound like, but it's certainly as good a starting point as any.  And if it's not obvious, comparing Custody to two absolute pillars of punk rock is no accident.  If you like Samiam or Leatherface, I just can't fathom you not being able to find something to love about Custody as well.

Compared to their prior albums, 3 shows Custody once again being as great as ever.  They aren't reinventing the wheel here.  Instead they're refining their songs that one step further to perfect them, rather than change what they are doing for the sake of it.  The ten tracks on this latest album are as good as anything they've done previously.  Searing guitar work, gigantic hooks and the sort of impassioned vocals that you just can't help but sing along to if you happened to be driving around listening to the album in your car at an unreasonable volume (or so I've heard).

Every Custody record is incredible and every Custody release is bittersweet for me.  They are a band that I wish I could have just kept putting everything out on PopKid.  They'd be quite the flag bearers, but I'm happy for all of the other labels involved as they've been able to add another classic to their catalogs.

Custody - 3:
https://custody.bandcamp.com/album/3

Custody - Get Stoked Lathe Cut 7" - Clear

Say-10 (2023)

Hey, it's my favorite band from Finland, Custody.  Talk about a band that can just do no wrong, in my opinion, they are easily one of the best and most consistent bands that are currently active.  While they are gearing up for their third LP, we have two new songs courtesy of a new, Lathe Cut 7" on Say-10 records.

If you are unfamiliar with Custody, I'm not sure how you are even reading my dumb website.  But in any case, they are a perfect, melodic punk rock band that wears their Samiam and Leatherface influences on their sleeve.  The channel a furious dual-guitar attack, with impassioned vocals and a seemingly never-ending supply of hooks.  If it's not clear, I love these guys and the two new songs on this record are every bit as good as their prior output.

The record itself is a lathe cut, double sided on clear plastic (I guess?).  It doesn't sound as good as a traditional vinyl record.  It's a little flat and not as full sounding.  My copy is kind of all over the place with certain parts of songs sounding fine and other parts being a little blown out.  But in general it does a serviceable job delivering the music and it looks really nice.  I would have preferred a proper 7", but I certainly understand the financial constraints of that particular format these days.  I'm just happy to have some new tunes by one of the best bands going.

Custody - Get Stoked Lathe Cut 7":
https://custody.bandcamp.com/album/get-stoked

Custody / Spells - Split 7" - Green Vinyl (/400)

Snappy Little Numbers / Brassneck / Keep It A Secret / Shield (2021)

I don't see as many split singles these days as I did in the 90s, but I'm always psyched when one comes out.  This time we've got two bands I already like, Spells and PopKid alumni Custody.

Custody never disappoints and their song "Into The Great Unknown" is no exception.  I find it difficult to write about Custody without typing the word Samiam, and while there are always some Sergie influences in most Custody songs, I do feel like the guitar work on this particular track does chart some newer ground for the band.  There's a surfy lead in the intro that breaks into a riff that reminds me a lot of the The End Will Be Kicks song "You Are All Kinds of Red Lights."  Once we hit the chorus, you get the booming, crunchy distortion that no one delivers quite like Custody, but I like the journey taken to get there,  Another great song.

Spells come in with "Confidence, Baby. Confidence!" which is a song that has a wide variety of punctuation in its title.  This one starts out by clapping and spelling out the word 'confidence' similar to the Bay City Rollers "Saturday Night" or Rocket From The Crypt's "Tiger Feet Tonight."  It then breaks into a pretty raspy vocal for the verse, the music fades here a little bit only to come roaring back in the chorus.  While I can't say this is my favorite Spells song that I've heard, it's also not so far away from the sound that I'm used to from them.  I could never say anything but good things about it, it just isn't hitting me quite as hard as some of their other songs.

Still, this is a great little record featuring two of the best current bands out there.  If you read my dumb website, chances are you probably need to pick this up.

Custody / Spells - Split 7":
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/split-single-sln-216

Custody / Bear Away - Split 7" Lathe (Clear, /30)

Brassneck / Disillusioned (2021)

I don't have many lathe cut records.  And most of the ones I have are kind of old.  There must have been some big time advances in lathe technology over the past few years as I am shocked how good this split 7" sounds.  Does it sound quite as good as a proper piece of vinyl, just barely, no it doesn't.  It's a little bit heavy on the low end and is maybe lacking in crispness ever so slightly.  But that said, my jaw was on the ground when I put this on the turntable as I couldn't believe how good it did actually sound.  We live in crazy times, folks...

Anyway, there's two bands on this record, the first of which is Custody, a long time favorite of mine and definitely in the running for being one of the best active bands going.  They've long since mastered the Samiam-esque style of melodic punk and their contribution, "Running In Circles," is just another example of said mastery.  The way the powerful vocals mesh in with the dynamic and catchy guitar work is just fantastic.  I wish these guys put out a new record every week, like Rocket From The Crypt 1995-style.

Bear Away isn't a band I was familiar with prior to getting this record, and damn if this isn't the reason I love split 7"s so much.  While they definitely have something of a similar melodic sound as Custody, Bear Away is definitely a beast unto themselves.  The drums are fast, the guitar riffs are warm and fuzzy and the vocals hit all of the right notes.  These guys are from England and when you listen to their song, I feel like they couldn't be from anywhere else.

This split is just excellent and I'm so relieved to have it in the collection.  If you can find one, grab it...but if nothing else at least the songs are up on Bandcamp to download.

Custody / Bear Away - Split 7":
https://brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/split-11

Custody - II LP - Orange Vinyl (/300)

Brassneck / Waterslide / Combat Rock / Shield (2020)

Ah Custody, proud member of the PopKid family.  When I sit down and listen to this record I can't help but be a little sad that it's not a PopKid release.  These gentlemen from Finland are everything I'd want in a band on our dumb little label.  I'm very happy that we were able to help put out a 7" of theirs a few years ago, but I wish that we had pockets that were deep enough to be part of everything they put out.  Such a great band.

On to II.  This is their second full length album and I can say without hesitation it is every bit as good, if not better, than everything I've heard by them so far.  Custody is a band incapable of writing a dud song.  Everything they do has this amazing energy, from the rushing guitar riffs to the pounding drums to the soaring vocals.  The band that I always hear the most when listening to Custody is prime Clumsy-era Samiam.  But Custody takes those sounds and blends them with the influences of the very best of UK melodic hardcore with Leatherface inspired leads and Snuff style melodies.

Add in a vocalist with a true mastery of his instrument, melding the sort of power you'd hear in Iron Chic without resorting to any unseemly yelling or screaming. Gah! These guys are just too great.  Custody is one of the absolute best current bands going these days.  As I've said several times, their music is pretty much perfect when it comes to the sort of thing I want to listen to.  All I can do is hope that Custody stays together for a long, long time and puts out album after incredible album.  Maybe even another on PopKid someday...

In a conflict of interest moment, I do have a very small amount of copies of this record in the PopKid Distro.  There are very few of these in America, so if you want to avoid the costs of international postage, I recommend grabbing one quick.  I also have copies of their killer split 7" with Phoenix Foundation and of course their PopKid 7" - home of the BEST song they've ever written!  Grab what you need:

PopKid Distro:
Custody II LP - HERE
Custody/Phoenix Foundation split 7" - HERE
Custody PopKid 7" - HERE

Custody - II:
https://brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ii

Custody / The Phoenix Foundation - Split 7"

Little Rocket (2019)

I've been anticipating this 7" for quite some time.  When Custody came to the US for The Fest, I was lucky enough to hear their song on this split live when they band played a show in New Jersey.  As soon as I heard "Tuesdays" I loved it and I let the band know how much I thought it should come out on PopKid.  While things didn't pan out for that, I'm still very excited to have this 7" in my collection, even if it's on another record label.

"Tuesdays" is a classic Custody rocker.  The way they channel a furious mix of 90s UK punk sounds and a Samiam style melody always blows me away.  This is a band that can just do no wrong right now.  Every song I hear by them I love more than the one I heard before (except for "Whatever We Decide," that one is still the best).

Phoenix Foundation is a band I've been buying records of for a really long time.  I first heard of them through a release they had on Snuffy Smile in 2004 and it's great to see them still putting out records.  Their last full length from 2017, Closer, was outstanding and is worth hunting down.  Their contribution to this split is "Secrets."  It's a great song, but it is kind of long.  We're talking six and a half minutes long and the vocals don't start until two minutes in long.  The songs itself is terrific, but can't help but feel I'd probably like it more if a bit was shaved of the intro at lease.  That's probably a fault of my attention span though and not the song itself.

Custody / The Phoenix Foundation - Split 7":
https://custody.bandcamp.com/album/custody-the-phoenix-foundation-split-single

Custody - S/T LP Blue w/ Black Swirl Vinyl (/300)

Little Rocket (2018)

Custody are from Finland and hot damn what a great, great band they are.  So much so, that last year I put my money where my mouth was and helped release one of their 7"s.  While PopKid wasn't able to get involved with their debut full length, I can unquestionably say that: 1. It's great and 2. I really wish this was on PopKid.  It would have been a wonderful addition to our catalog.

Custody have a knack for melodic punk in ways that I have not seen in many years.  They have a 90s leaning style that often makes me think of Samiam in the way they craft their melodies and hooks.  But to get the full picture you need to add in a band like Starmarket in the way they are able to inject fierce energy and super dynamic guitar interplay.

Each of the album's ten songs just knock me over again and again.  They have an uncanny ability to craft their songs in a way that uses the verse as a launching pad for their killer choruses.  Custody also has incredible skill with constructing the instrumental portions of their songs, with perfectly placed bridges and honestly, some of the best song outros/conclusions that I've ever heard.

Custody's debut full length is so clearly one of the best albums to come out in 2018 so far.  I can't recommend it highly enough and I hope these guys keep cranking out records for many years.

Custody - S/T:
https://custody.bandcamp.com/album/custody

Custody - Blistered Soul 7" - Red, Blue or Yellow Vinyl

 

PopKid / Waterslide / Different Kitchen / Shield / Keep it a Secret (2016)

This will be my second conflict of interest post this year as I am writing about another record that I'm releasing on PopKid records, the label I do with my buddy Alan.  I never really expected that we would be releasing another record so soon after putting out Chestnut Road a couple of months ago.  That had been the first PopKid record in twelve years.  I think you have to go back to 1999 to find the last year that PopKid had put out two releases in the same year.

The thing about is we just couldn't not put this record out.  I had written a few nice things about the first Custody 7" on this website.  It was a great record then and it's still in my frequent rotation.  The guys in Custody got in touch to see if PopKid wanted to be the American label for their next 7".  We were flattered, but weren't sure we really should fire up another record so soon after the last.  All it took was a few listens to these songs and we were hooked.  We HAD to release this 7".

The A side "Blistered Soul" kicks things off with its palm muted Samiam inspired verse that chugs along as it builds towards the chorus.  When that chorus hits, the hook just explodes into life with a vocal melody that gets lodged in my head for days on end.  The guitar work roars along side the vocals with a rich, full sound that kills me every time.  Perhaps a result of the bang up mastering job done by Mass Giorgini at Sonic Iguana?  I'm sure he didn't hurt things!

For me personally, the B side "Whatever We Decide" takes the cake on this 7".  I can say with no hyperbole whatsoever that this is one of my favorite songs I've heard all year.  When the chorus of this song kicks in, you're treated with some of the most dynamic guitar work this side of Starmarket.  The way the band is able to weave these guitar leads through the vaguely Iron Chic style passionate vocals is just amazing to me.  Sure, I may have bias because this record is coming out on my label, but the reason it is is because we just love these two songs.

I hope that Custody keeps cranking out hits forever.  I consider us very lucky to be able to be a part of this release and I can only hope that we will be able to do more with them in the future.  Surely a full length will be needed at some point, right?

Purchase the record from our webstore here: 

http://popkidrecords.bigcartel.com/product/custody-blistered-soul-7-3-colors-of-vinyl

Stream both songs and buy the digital version on our Bandcamp page here: 

https://popkid.bandcamp.com/album/custody-blistered-soul

PopKid is the lucky label releasing this record in North America.  If you are from another land, there may be a label close by that is co-releasing this great 7" with us:

Available in North America from PopKid Records 

Available in the UK from Different Kitchen Records 

Available in the Netherlands from Shield Recordings 

Available in Germany from Keep it a Secret Records 

Available in Japan from Waterslide Records

Custody - Blistered Soul 7":
https://popkid.bandcamp.com/album/custody-blistered-soul

Custody - Stitches Are All I Have 7" - Red Vinyl (/73)

Brassneck (2015)

Custody hails from Finland and I feel that is worth mentioning as it's been a while since I featured a band from this part of Europe.  In the 90's and early 2000's, there were a slew of bands from the Sweden, Norway and Finland region that were in constant rotation.  Starmarket, Chester Copperpot, Manifesto Jukebox, Him Kerosene, Beezwax, the list goes on and on.  Then something happened.  I'm not sure if the music scene changed over there or if I gradually fell out of touch as I got old.  If anyone out there knows of great bands from this area that I have been overlooking, please get in touch and let me know.

Anyway, back to Custody.  These guys are playing a really great version of melodic punk rock.  So much of this kind of music can be traced through influences that will eventually lead you back to Jawbreaker or Leatherface.  As a super generic comparison, I'd say Jawbreaker is a more appropriate starting point, but to me Custody really falls into the branch of punk rock that bands like Iron Chic and to some extent RVIVR are existing in.  The vocals are impassioned and somewhat gruff.  There's a heart-on-your-sleeve vibe here that never falls into schmaltzy emo trappings, but makes the songs more engaging and feel more honest.

Musically, there's guitar octaves in all of the right places, some stutter stops in the breaks and most important to me, giant catchy choruses.  It's a great introduction to Custody and I'm very eager to hear some more out of these guys.

Custody - Stitches Are All I Have 7":

https://brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/custody-s-t-7