Comments for Dag Nasty, Four on the Floor

When Dag Nasty introduced their band lineup with, "This Month Dag Nasty is:" on their would-be final album, FIELD DAY (1988), they weren`t kidding; changing line-ups between albums had become a given for the progressive, power-pop/emo-core Cali band. Four years after the group`s break-up, four ex-members "accidentally" wound up in the same California city on their respective summer vacations. This meeting resulted in a brand new Dag Nasty record released on Brett Gurewitz` (Bad Religion) indie label, Epitaph Records entitled, FOUR ON THE FLOOR. This time Dag Nasty came to us in the form of Colin Sears (drummer on WIG OUT and CAN I SAY), Roger Marbury (bass on CAN I SAY), Dave Smalley (vocals on CAN I SAY) and, of course, Brian Baker on guitar. Though the album credits one Dale Nixon (Black Flag, anyone?) in place of Baker, it was just a psuedonym used to circumvent Brian`s contract with his Crap-Metal band of the time, Junkyard. The band`s refusal to tour for this get-together reveals their intention to make an album simply for the fun of it. Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad thing as well as a good thing in the case of FOUR ON THE FLOOR. In short, the album suffers from a lack of direction more thananything. It is, after all, a simple snapshot of four, familiar old friends in a studio for thesummer. Of course, that can be fun too.Recorded and Produced by Gurewitz, this record carries a sort of "Bad Religion" sheen to it that is characteristic to most of the Epitaph bands` recordings. The album sports 10 new Dag Nasty songs, 2 of which have been previously unreleased (and can be found in various forms on the band`s demo collection album, `85-`86) and one U.K. Subs cover. With the CAN I SAY line-up firmly in place, the band assumes its familiar old Emo-core stance. Gone are the wild experimentations of 1988`s FIELD DAY, say hello to the new 90`s ethos of back-to-your-roots-whatever-they-happen-to-be punk rock. If the band`s age was beginning to come through on the previous LP, then it had come full circle with FOUR ON THE FLOOR. Smalley whines on with his usual personal lyrics, but this time they hold less rage and actually depict to us a man letting go of his childish ideals and searching for some real solutions to some very-real problems. The music reflects this aged-ness a bit as well, but Baker`s signature hooks and cock-rock solos frame the whole thing within a snappy Dag Nasty package that may not quite be the core of yore, but still has honesty and spirit.