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I'll openly admit my knowledge of Italian punk to being less than grand. Infact I know sweet FA about their scene, but if the standard of their bands comes anything close to "Me for Rent" then by jove I think we all owe it to ourselves to find out more. Because quite frankly, this is 14 tracks of riproaring skate punk at its melodically injected finest.
For some reason though it took me a long time to get around to listening to it. Maybe it was the gaudy artwork on the front or the fact that an Italian band didn’t instantly appeal to me. Once I took in the first few tracks though, I knew I had made a mistake and since then it has been gaining regular rotation in the homestead of Skegness. From the moment the drums and harmonies kick in on ‘4m x 4m you sense something a little special. With echoes of No Use for a Name, NOFX and even Sublime (!) in their sound, it is a more than satisfactory 31 minute skate punk romp. It never strays to far from a tried and well tested formula of pacy snare smashing and tight melodic hooks, but the fact that it is all completed so efficiently is testament that there is barley a weak effort on show. From the biting edges and slick guitar play on ‘Il Grande Ovile’ to the delightfully quirky ‘Pleasure Shelter’ (Why is the Italian accent so hypnotizing?) the surreal is just as easily performed as the serious and gives a light hearted touch to proceedings.
‘Il Manuale Del Perfetto Impostore’ has proved a real find and will stick around for a long time to come. The seemingly effortless toils of ‘Self Service’ cant help but inject the leg with tapping spasms while the more complex ‘Undressed Nation’ impresses as the album ends on a high. Faults? Hard to find, but with English being introduced to the song writing, maybe they could start to make waves over the pond. It is minor, but for the time being, Me for Rent are fine just being themselves and that is good news for all involved.
Jay
4/5
- www.punktastic.com
Right now I'm getting flooded with Italian albums, and I love it! I get the feeling that Italian bands stay true to the punk rock formula when I keep recieving awesome recordings from these independent labels. This time I'm talking about "Me For Rent", the only band signed at the moment to independent punk rock label "Nerd Sound Records". The band was born originally in 1996 and a year after that they released their first demo called "Frogs". After that two more demos came out ("Escape From Alcatraz" -98 and "Arkham Asylum" -99) and now I have their first full length in my hands.
They sing in italian, so really, I can't comment on the lyrics. But the music is pretty impressive, especially to be a debute album. It's fast and melodic punk rock with great guitars and strong vocal performance, impressive hooks and all in all a diverse sound. One reason for the great sound is most likely due to all the years of experience. As I mentioned these guys have been together ever since 1996, and 8 years is a long time. When I listen to this album, I associate their sound a bit to "Marsh Mallows", though "Me For Rent" has a somewhat softer sound when it comes to the vocals.
Most songs are smashing kickass fast punk rock songs, but there's room for some slower tracks. Heck, even ska. Track 8 called "Pleasure Shelter" is a ska track and very softly played all way through. A really nice track. For some reason I really like songs with Italian lyrics. Even though I cannot understand what they say, I like the way the prenouncement of language sounds. Strange but true. Another favorite track would be "La scelta", with its awesome backup vocals and great catchy melody. There's also more of that kind, but this one really hooked me. I like almost all songs, there are a couple of weaker tracks, but the good ones make up for those ones.
Italians keep to make great punk rock, and I really hope people will check this band as well as have a look at this new label "Nerd Sound Records" since, with this release, they seem to be a very promising one. Feels like Italians are getting more and more into the international punkscene. I wish them good luck in the future!
by Aaron Peltonen
80/100 - www.punkupdates.com
No Fancy Style, Me For Rent
Me for Rent are an old school rock n’ roll band from Italy. I can’t say I’d heard of them before, but they have been knocking around since the mid-nineties and this album is the product of a band who’ve clearly been around a while. It’s a slick little piece of punk rock that fits somewhere between later Rocket From The Crypt stuff and the Hives.
Punk n’roll is a much bigger phenomenon in certain parts of the continent than it is here and I only really learnt this from repeated trips to said countries. Me for Rent are clearly a product of this scene and it looks to me like they are doing alright for themselves in their native Italy. There is no reason why they couldn’t do alright in the UK – this album is tight, perfectly produced and the songs are pretty damn strong too. Anyone with a Backyard Babies album, or a fondness for old 3 Colours Red would probably love a bit of this. Even Against Me! could accuse the band of ripping off an idea or two.
If I have any criticism its that there probably won’t be enough depth to keep this one spinning in my CD player for too long, but it’s as solid a punkrock record as I’ve heard in a while.
Mike
3&1/2 / 5 - http://www.punktastic.com/reviews/3121
Discography
LP
"Il Manuale del Perfetto Impostore" NerdSound/Ammonia/Edel 2004
"No Fancy Style"
NerdSound/Ammonia/Edel 2008
VVAA
"Punk Remake Vol
Photos
Bio
Me For Rent are a punkrock band from Ceccano (Italy) near Rome. They started playing together so young, when were only kids in 1996. As every punkrock band from the half of 90’s they just start covering Nofx, Lagwagon, Descendents and more but, as fast as they refine music approach and sound, they started write own songs mixing rock’n’roll, californian hardcore and seattle sounds.
After a few years playing live and some selfproducted demotapes they still kept the same linup as they started. After playing with such great bands as Shandon, Thee Stp, Crunch, Cosmonauti, Julie’s Haircut and more, in 2003, they agree with NerdSound Records about the release of their first full lenght titled “Il Manuale Del Perfetto Impostore” licensed on september 2003 and distribuited in Italy by EDEL.
About half-hour of fast and melodic punk-hardcore sang in Italian and played in Fatwreckords style.
After that they started touring around Italy playing with such great band as Vanilla Sky, Punkreas, Prozac+, Linea77, Los Fastidios and more. Since two years of tour in small clubs around Italy and some Tv shows, to promote the full lenghtpresenting the two videos of “Superstizioni” e “Senza Scrupoli”, enable them to be invited as guest in september of 2005 at the first edition of Rock in Idro in Milan, the most important Italian punk festival playing with Nofx, Millencolin, Pennywise, My Chemical Romance and such more great bands.
In January 2006 they finished the tour supporting Lagwagon tourdate at Rolling Stone in Milan and started to write a brand new album. A long year begun because new song means a little bit of big changes and impose a period to understand what’s the right way to create.
On March 2007 they recorded a cover of Misfits’s “Hybrid Moments” for Ammonia Records’s compilation called “Punk Remake Vol.”. The Video of this track has been insert in the playlist of italian MTV Brand New, Rock TV, ALL Music and other big italian tv Networks. On June 2007 they started to record the brand new album called “No Fancy Style” that is produced by Americo Roma and mixed by Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Hot Hot Heat). On July 2007 they played at Eastpak Etnika Rock Festival with OkGo, Strung Out, Roy Paci & Aretuska and in September 2007 they has been invited twice at Idroscalo Rock (aka Rock in Idro). A great pride for them because other than Me For Rent just Nofx and Turbonegro played twice times on three editions of this festival.
At the end of september 2007 they finish the recordings of the album and grow up a furious mix of rock’n’roll, garage punk and alternative rock finally ratifying an evolution of style and sound that consolidate Me For Rent as one of the most promising italian rock band.
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