The Isotopes – Nuclear Strikezone

A hockey town like Vancouver, BC is an unlikely home for the self proclaimed “world’s greatest baseball punk band,” but that’s the geography behind The Isotopes.  Not surprisingly, the Canadian six-piece quickly made for away games south of the border to raise their profile in a country of all-American, ballpark frank love’n fans.   Finding initial success in Chicago with Red Scare Records, the band fell comfortably alongside barebones pop-punk labelmates The Copyrights, The Riptides and Elway.  After a string of EPs and their hefty early career compilation, The First Four Seasons, The Isotopes return to their home and native land for the release of their long awaited debut full-length, Nuclear Strikezone.

As with any team playing on their home turf, The Isotopes take every effort to make Nuclear Strikezone a home run performance.  Opener “Never Been Caught” serves as a precursor to the band’s backstory as dirty major league cheats.  The six members’ shamelessly take the field circa a crackling announcer introducing their Isotopes Punk Rock Baseball Club aliases to a crowd of disowning “boos.”  But The Isotopes play on with all the skill and hot headed confidence of a cocky, arrogant team of champs.

The Isotopes are best described as a Canadian baseball-themed version of Teenage Bottlerocket – the magic comes from their uncanny knack for simple, catchy melodies and equally as quick-witted one liners.  Evan October’s snotty, nasally vocals match their Ramones-like three-chord simplicity and harmonize with a band worth of backing vocals, making for iconic choruses as per “The Ballad Of Rey Ordonez.”  Hit and run type tracks like “Total Juicehead” and “Chicks Dig The Long Ball” race out in front as dual guitarists Dallas Duststorm and Justin Safely speedily storm the field and drummer Tony Hustle makes the long dive for home plate.  The result is familiar but confident in the crowded world of no frills pop-punk.

And you don’t necessarily need to be a baseball fan to enjoy all of The Isotopes subject matter.  “I got not time for radiation, this ain’t no Japanese vacation, baseball is my occupation,” proclaims Evan October in “Hiroshima Dreamin’s” catchy finale – the status of baseball in Japan being widely recognized.  But other tracks like the slightly slower tempoed “Night Bus Home To You” and “Goodnight Havana” definitely cater to those more readily immersed in global baseball culture.  Either way though, the songs flourish instrumentally.

Nuclear Strikezone is every bit as fun as The Isotopes’ initial EPs, proving that baseball themed pop-punk is more than a simple career gimmick – it’s a lifestyle.  Many seasons have passed on the way to The Isotopes first full length, but if it took all the heartbreak and cross-border shenanigans of a Canadian punk act touring America to pave the way for Nuclear Strikezone, then the road has been well worth travelling.