SNFU

…And No One Else Wanted To Play (1984)

BYO Records

Rating: 3 out of 4 Pentagrams

Reviewed by: Jeff Deth

Canada had a few really good punk exports, one being D.O.A., the other SNFU. I have been a fan of these guys back when they had a couple great albums that were on Epitaph Records. I happen to find …And No One Else Wanted to Play while digging around a great shop in Chicago.

Harmony is one of the best ways to describe the songs, in addition to “fast” and “whacky”. This is a band that defiantly doesn’t take itself too seriously. SNFU probably stuck out back in 84’ for being goofy amidst all the intense NY and D.C. Hardcore bands of the time.  

Songs like “Cannibal Café” and “The Gravedigger” were obviously meant to be fun and they come off that way. Even looking at the crazy black and white cover art makes me think of how different a band they are. They seem comfortable dealing in the realm of the bizarre. In the end though their sound has a classic O.C. quality of surf punk. They have many of the same qualities as bands from that area including The Descendents and T.S.O.L. Vocalist, Chi Pig, sounds quite a bit like Milo from The Descendents in fact. But then again he also has this very unique harmonizing quality that is rare amongst punk singers.

Chi’s delivery and enthusiasm is what really makes this band interesting. I can just picture him flailing around the stage and jumping around like a kid with ADD. That could just be my imagination as well, but the pictures on the insert certainly seem to validate that idea.

The songs are all very strong with a lot of spring and pop. Having two guitarists in a punk band seems odd, but it gives they’re sound a big boost and thickness.

My favorite tracks are “I’m Real Scared” and “Poor Pitiful Me”. Listening to this today, I can hear things that The Bouncing Souls would go on to do and can connect a lot of that to SNFU. This is a great and fun record to put on that sounds very fresh and dynamic to this day. I probably still like their later day Epitaph releases the best but the earlier stuff is totally worth getting into if you can find it.