Days N’ Daze – Show Me The Blueprints

Up until this point Days N’ Daze has unquestionably been the best kept secret in the punk scene.  I’ve been reviewing music for over a decade and somehow I have never encountered one of their first seven albums or read a single press release about the Houston, Texas punk-grass quartet (I find this peculiar if only because the band’s first album was released the year I really started down this path).  

Yet, while Old Man Markley, The Wild, and Larry and his Flask were emerging in the spotlight, Days N’ Daze were quietly digging in as a fiercely independent force to be reckoned with.  The band quickly defined itself with a combination of interlaced male and female vocals, crusty DIY production, and a blistering array of banjos, mandolins, washboards and folk instruments played as fast and chaotic as a fox in a chicken pen.  So it’s actually quite remarkable that it took all this time for the good folks at Fat Wreck Chords to take note and ink a deal for their eighth full length, Show Me The Blueprints.

After combing through Days N’ Daze’s back catalogue it’s clear the band has come a long way in refining their sound.  The combination of speed meets melody channels the spirit of 90’s skate-punk but with straw hats and barnyard overalls.  Built around a core of acoustic strumming reminiscent of early speed-folk bands like Kemo Sabe, songs like “Flurry Rush” sprint from the gate, kicking up dust under the guidance of founding members Jesse Sendejas’ and Whitney Flynn’s dueling vocals.  With such an unbridled ruckus behind the wheel the band mixes melody with bouts of horn blasts and singable choruses.  “Ditches” and “LibriYUM” in particular employ choruses that inject familiar “woah-oh-oh-oh-oaah” gang vocals alongside sweeping blasts of brass.  

The tempo follows a clear ebb and flow that finds the band pushing the pedal to the metal for one moment and easing off the gas during the next.  “Fast Track” is almost soothing, while the title track errupts with bouts of thoaty hardcore intensity. Songs like “Rewind” and “None Exempt” travel at a speed just north of mid-tempo, but regularly retreat as they approach and compensate for each bend in the road.  Such moments feel like the perfect pairing of Greenland is Melting and Larry and His Flask, balancing old timey banjo, vocal coarseness and rustic storytelling.  For those that keep up with the songs’ numerous social and personal commentary, the band has a real knack for weaving in some profound themes.  “Saboteurs” in particular aptly describes an Alaskan escape and how, “it might have been the one chance to experience first hand all the culture and beauty of this state,” but that undiagnosed and mounting mental health had led to a paralyzing and unpredictable anxiety.  It’s this underlying “realness” that stands to win over an audience that has otherwise grown skeptical and jaded of shiny mainstream showmanship.

Show Me The Blueprints marks the band’s first album that didn’t rely on flawless single studio takes of entire songs.  As such, the band feels like they were able to explore and experiment with all manners of creative output and take risks that may have otherwise been unrealistic in past recording settings.  It’s not that they play harder, they just feel more willing to explore and expand upon certain songs in richer, more intentional ways. 

When all is said and done, Days N’ Daze have exploded as an exciting new force on the Fat Wreck Chords roster.  Show Me The Blueprints showcases these rustic folk punks as a force to be reckoned with.  Such a marriage of folk and punk is a rarity in general, but even rarer is the skill and conviction which Days N’ Daze unleash.  I haven’t felt this strongly about a Fat Wreck Chords debut since Old Man Markely’s “Guts N’ Teeth,” and that says something.  Days N’ Daze are about to grab the tattered cardboard crown of folk punk and emerge as backwoods kings.