Reno Divorce

Grade: B

Reno Divorce threw together a dash of the old and the new and added a couple of bonus tracks on this split collection. The band's middle ablum, "You're Only Making It Worse," missed the cut as the recording wasn't up to snuff, and that cuts listeners out of a fan favorite and all around great Reno song, "A .45 Will Pay The Rent."

But if it's simple catchiness you're after, the "Naysayers" half has it in spades. There, Reno Divorce wear their pop sensibilities on their sleeves, throwing in a hefty helping of the driving "chug-ga-chug" of guitar and some subtle vocal harmonizing.

The surprise is easily "Good Luck," which almost inexplicably became a fan favorite. Maybe it's a testament to just how much spite your average punk rock fan has for his or her ex-lovers, but pound-for-pound, "What Were You Saying?" and "Hits You Hard" deliver catchier tunes.

"Laugh Now" is the album's darker half, reflecting the tension and frustration inseparable from the band's punk rock roots. Even more outwardly poppy numbers like the title track have a grittier sound that stands in stark contrast to the lemons from lemonade "Naysayers," and even that's miles from the spit and the sneering in "Rocks Under the Hill," a gloriously brash bit of punk rock rage.

If the sense of homage hasn't grown overwhelming, Reno follow it up with a couple bonus tracks, including a heartsick cover of Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way" that rocks and rolls with the punches.

The changes between the two albums can make it hard to get through in one sitting. It's handy, though, as an all-purpose rock relief with a song or two for any occasion. - John Zwick - Yourhub.com (Denver, CO)

KKKK

Wounded and wounding laments from the gutters and streets of Denver.

The guitars are raw and low-slung, the vocals are a perfect mix of whiskey-sour kisses and brattish pout and sneer. Yes it's more punk rock'n'roll, but this is the kind with dirt under its nails, lurching out of the working class dives frequented by the likes of Social Distortion rather than the (admittedly no less thrilling) dandies clubs preferred by The Strokes and their ilk.

Yet while there's attitude and energy aplenty on "Naysayers And Yesmen", Reno Divorce sound like they're classicists at heart, and most of these songs would be equally as effective stripped down to a lone voice and acoustic guitar. Add a story-telling lyrical style that is socially aware, seedy and poetic all at the same time, and you have an oddly-moving brand of punk rock that wears its cynical, discontented heart brazenly on its sleeve like a wrecked romantic. -Paul Travers - Kerrang!

8/10

This band have covered the spectrum of punk band incidents in their seven-year history- constantly changing members, splitting up and reuniting- and also the good luck of being able to tour with a shitload of great bands. And it’s all culminated in this, their second album, being mighty damn fine. It’s catchy and foot-tapping punk rock, but blatantly ignoring all the nice boy clichés that project average bands into overnight superstardom. Basically, it rocks in a way that spans what’s regarded as punk now and how it was two decades ago, and sounds great because of that fact. In the same way as the vastly underrated Travis Cut bare their souls through sharp, honest blasts of punky power, these three guys have produced an album that deserves to be heard. So treat yerself, have a listen. – Paul Raggity - Rocksound

Triumphant return for the Florida punks

It's not always an easy distinction to make, but there's a big difference between a pop-punk band and a punk band with pop sensibilities. Florida's Reno divorce for example, are straight out of the Descendents/Bad Religion school of "never be afraid of a good melody, but don't forget
honest lyrics" unlike, say, Good Charlotte who are more likely to remark "fuck honesty, melody sells". This, their second album, is made up of twelve songs plus a hidden track, and anyone of them could be singles. The genuine quality that shines throughout the record easily makes up for the fact that there really isn't anything new happening here. It's only a tiny gripe though, because tunes like "West Bank Blues" and "say It" are too good to hold nay sort of grudge against! (8/10) - Brett Callwood - Metal Hammer

Hot damn whooooo-weee, these sonically smokin' sultans of sin rotundly crank-out a sizzlin' skillet full of slicked-back ducktail punkrock rowdiness! Reno Divorce are the savage young bastard sons of Social Distortion, and they meticulously, yet energetically, create the boxcar-ridin', prisonbound sounds of Mike Ness and crew during SD's hootin'-and-hollerin' hellraisin' heyday. This is robust, ballsy, and brash rock'n'roll swagger at its coolest and most bad-ass... it's undeniably the everlasting aural epitome of hotrods, big-boobed gals, tattooes, whiskey, and boisterous streetscruff unruliness... it oozes sin and sweat and cheap sex... sordid backalley debauchery beneath the pale glow of an old hunchbacked streetlamp, bloody-knuckled bottle-smashin' brawls in a smoke-enshrouded poolhall, and booze-soaked bums drunkenly stumbling through an endless maze of neon-lit, vomit-slicked streets. Hell yeh, the explosive sonic fury of Reno Divorce brings out the devil in me and makes me wanna drink and fuck and get downright dirty and nasty! If I were dictator for just one day, this would be a mandatory disc to be played loudly in each and every home, business, institutional learning facility, penitentiary, and church across the nation... amen, motherfucker! - Roger Moser, Jr. - Razorcake

My favorite band in the world is The Replacements. In the 12 years since they died an ugly death in Lincoln Park, Illinois, the world has become a very different place- one that lacks the drunken, quarter-assed approach to rock and roll that raised the Mats to the big leagues and also sent them tumbling down. I haven't heard one band that's close to the specific kind of energy (and honesty) the Mats had, but Reno Divorce (from Colorado) come close. (There have been other great bands, it's true, just none that have filled that void.)

They're hard-edged, tighter and less influenced by bubblegum and country-western than Minnesota's least-favorite sons, though with songs such as "He's A Fuck Up," "Girls I Could Have Fucked" (with a title like that, you really need to deliver substance- and RD do) and "Let It Loose," they display some of the same enthusiasms and energy. Elsewhere, ("Hits You Hard," the elegant "Last Dance" and the amphetamine hoedown "What Were You Saying?") Reno Divorce come across like (undergroud heroes) TSOL and Look Sharp!-era Joe Jackson. While They're yet another in a long line of bands being painted ans punk when they're just loud, attitudinal rock and roll, it's the music- not the tag- that matters. Thinking, for moment, that you don't know how I really feel about this record, I'll close by saying this: Naysayers And Yesmen is an ear-shattering experience, a symphony of destruction for the timpani, a denim-and-hair-oil epiphany. - Jedd Beaudoin - F5 Weekly

Don't know if any of these cats have actually ever been to Reno, but I do know some other places they've haunted. Orlando, for one, where they originally formed, a bunch of young and snotty greaser punks melting in the heat, pawing at the miniskirt mob and wrenching their mean machines, pausing once in awhile to light filterless cigarettes and nod in complete agreement when somebody said, "You know, Social Distortion and the Supersuckers are fuckin' boss." I know they've been to the graveyard of empty bottles, as well, because they broke up soon after, a bunch of sullen superheroes without a mission. And I know they've been to Denver, because that's where they find there long lost mojo and got the band back together, recording this here testament to life on the wrong side of the tracks, played with gritty punk authenticity and raunch n' roll swagger, which makes me think they've been to the gutter as well, since they sing it's praises with such conviction of Naysayers. Oh, and they've definitely been to the tattoo parlor. They're probably there right now, trading dirty jokes and writing new songs in their heads, songs that will get the rebel boys to pump their fists and hit the gas, make the pretty girls swoon, and cause their landlords to scribble threatening eviction notices and tape them to the doors of apartments that they'll never make the rent for. That's some of the places where I'm positive Reno Divorce have been. Where are they going? Jail, most likely.- Kenzilla - Sleazegrinder

"You're only Making It Worse" is the follow up to Reno Divorce's debut album "Naysayers And Yesmen," and let me tell you, RD hasn't let up a bit or changed the dynamics that made their debut so special. Straight up, this is one kick ass album! Reminiscent of a cross between old-school Social Distortion with the flair of Rancid-esque pop, Reno Divorce is the epitome of punk n roll. "Your Only Making It Worse" is thoroughly pleasurable all the way through, giving you rowdy rocking tunes that are sure to please even the toughest critics. From "Hard Luck Story" to "A .45 Will Pay The Rent" to "Kiss It Goodbye," Reno Divorce lay down the law about life, love, and social issues. "Your Only Making It Worse" is a solid return of the trio, yes trio! You'd never guess a trio from the sonic impact that the band lays down, kinda reminds me of the power and excitement of The Living End, but with a lot less alt-country influences. No matter what you have to say or do, get this album. Punk n roll doesn't get better any than this. If it wasn't for the influence of Social Distortion, I'd say these guys are even better than Mr. Ness and the rest. Incredible. Nothing more needs to be said....Incredible! –MG - Hussieskunk

Like a lot of punk / rock'n'roll enthusiasts, I've been wallowing in a doleful state of gut-wrenching misery the past few years while mourning the break-up of the incomparable Ramones and the recent untimely deaths of Joey and Dee Dee. I had my serious doubts that rock'n'roll in general and punk in particular would ever again possess the burning passion and energetic zeal that the Ramones brought to the music world. But, by golly gosh, Reno Divorce is putting the ballsy, swaggering oomph back into punk rock with the crunchy, bad-ass bravado of You're Only Making It Worse. Although the sonically smokin' Reno boys have more in common musically with Social Distortion (plus a snotty smidgen of The Chiefs thrown in for good measure), they definitely rage with the same lively, uncontainable fire that the brudda Ramones wreaked upon the planet during their heyday in the 1970s. Please note that I am in no way comparing the two bands music-wise, because they are as broadly differentiating as night and day. I'm just drawing a figurative relation between both groups' neck-snapping energetic spark. It's a given that Reno Divorce's songs are catchy and captivating, a rapid-fire bombardment of auditory detonations that roars with all of the thunderous, bone-fracturing fury of two planets suddenly colliding. But Reno Divorce gets down in the dirt and shovels out a manly, grunting maelstrom of gritty and greasy rock'n'roll debauchery drenched in sweat and booze and thickly slathered in a rugged coat of dirty-dealin', jailhouse guitar rhythms and the insolent "live fast, die young" ethos. It's a surly, burly, lean, and mean musical journey into the wild and decadent side of life where tattoos, immoral broads, and working-class, trailer park trashiness reign supreme. Indeed, Reno Divorce is exactly the type of band that appeals to the night-crawling outlaw element within us all, so I suggest you get liquored up and wild-eyed and blast this sizzlin', sin-fuelled disc until the tired uncertainty of dawn rears its ugly head.- Roger Moser, Jr. - Under The Volcano

Half Floridians, half Coloradans, Reno Divorce have been around since 1997 but this is their first time on my radar screen. It won’t be the last. This CD is ripping, gripping punk rock that brings to mind Social Distortion in their Mommy’s Little Monster days. The songs have a hot intensity to them, but they also have hooks that help them lock into your head. That big chord change in “A .45 Will Pay The Rent” makes it the highlight of the CD, but the lyrics of the title track leave it a close second. The topical “West Bank Blues” rocks the mind and feet together the way a good political song should- leaving enough ambiguity that nobody will feel preached to. – Steve Gardner - The Big Takeover