You Big Idiot - East Vanity (2023)

Few bands can elicit as many smiles, laughs, and spilt beer as You Big Idiot. Their unique brand of pop culture-centric melodic skate/party punk is infectious. Their live shows are legendary. They are an institution within the Vancouver punk rock community at this point in their decade+ career and with the release of 'East Vanity', they've further solidified a rightful position among the pantheon of Vancouver's punk rock elite.

Turning frowns upside down from it's opening notes, 'East Vanity' is another buzzing, bouncy slice of high tempo, melodic punk that's perfect for sloppily belting out a chorus or two while crushing some tinnies with pals.  Just take care to grip those drinks tight during the  stentorian guitar lines of tracks like "Better Than Rush" or "Green City", the former of which is a self- deprecating ripper that spends most of its time with its tongue planted firmly in cheek, while the latter is breakneck but sobering examination of the city's materialism and greed. Both cuts are pit-worthy shredders and likely to owe you a new tin of PBR before they're through. Like some of the genres heavyweights, it's YBI's ability to mix the serious with the playful that belies just how clever their songwriting actually is.  And boy is 'East Vanity' clever. It's an album that obviously keeps the city of Vancouver close to it's chest (duh, just look the album title, or cuts like the aforementioned "Green City, "Wild Mouse", or closer "The Slower Mainland") but chooses to spend the majority of its it time paying tribute to the characters that populate it.

Professional concert planner/venue hopper Lance Alden finally gets immortalized in song with the very appropriate bass driven pop-punk banger, "Pulling a Lance." It's a clever track that name drops some of Vancouver's best, so make sure you're paying attention. cough Contra Code cough. The knee breaking exploits of Die Job's Cyrus Bryant takes center (Orpheum) stage in "Take A Knee", another album standout that tears a page out of YBIs playbook of explosive tempo changes. It's a trick they've used to great effect throughout their career and it works like a charm here. Chris "Hogo" Hogan  even gets to breathe some grease with a flashy little solo at the 1:42 mark.  He and Andrew Pedersen (of The Corps fame) are quite the pair together. Just check out those sweet leads in the closing minute of "Wild Mouse". Pedersen was a great pick up in the time between "Mega Donair" and "East Vanity" and I'll be sorry to see him traded in the offseason. The band runs a similar audible with the riotous "For Ronnie", an amusing yarn about the McKenzie sidelining of poor ol'  Ronnie Ellis. It's played for laughs, but dammit, these fellas just know how to keep your feet moving and your mouths flapping.

So much of this would just feel farcical if it weren't for how well these four truly gel as a band. I've often stressed that the Canadian West Coast is an embarrassment of riches for its number of quality bands/musicians, and You Big Idiot is such a big part of that. Mileage with 'East Vanity' may vary for some. On its surface, it's simply an incredibly well produced (more kudos to "King" Shafer Carson, who's quickly become one of my favortie producers/engineers I Vancouver)/performed slice of NOFX inspired punk rock. It doesn't reinvent the wheel or offer any significant changes in the YBI sound (or the sound of the genre as a whole for that matter). It's also not trying to.  It's just a fun little 20 minute EP that I suspect will tick a lot of boxes for lovers of high tempo skate punk.  On a deeper level, and for those that either know the band, live in the city, or are fortunate enough to have befriended some of the album's subjects (or all of the above), 'East Vanity' is a big, 20 minute, warm fuzzy. I'd wager that most people reading this will know what I mean. I make every effort to be objective and avoid letting it appear as though bias is creeping into an album review from artists that I know on a personal level, but bands like YBI (and several others in Vancouver) make that incredibly difficult at times. They're just so doggone talented and easy to hype up.  These quintet are a criminally overlooked group outside of Western Canada and I'm hoping that the right support slot for just the right band at just the right time is all its going to take to help expose YBI to a larger audience. We could all use a little more laughter these days. 

5.75/7.0

Standout Tracks: "Better Than Rush", "Pulling a Lance", "Wild Mouse"