Review / 200 Words Or Less
Captain, We're Sinking
...With Joe Riley

Evil Weevil (2011) Matthew Cebreros

Captain, We're Sinking – ...With Joe Riley cover artwork
Captain, We're Sinking – ...With Joe Riley — Evil Weevil, 2011

Captain, We're Sinking don't reinvent the wheel with their new 7" release. They aren't pushing any boundaries. Hell, they essentially rip-off The Lawrence Arms with no shame. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every second of it.

With Joe Riley provides three tracks of incredibly catchy and well-done melodic punk. "The Ballad of Ichabond Crane" starts things off right with a riff that will be stuck in your head for hours. After just a few listens, I found myself singing along to every word. The hooks are infectious, and the vocals suite the music very well. "Manners Are Their Own Reward, Gentleman" is more abrasive and less catchy than the opener, but still a blast. "Foster Brothers" reinforces the comparison to The Lawrence Arms with lines like "I'm drowning in the smell of alcohol, burning paper and nicotine", but the song is so well-done that I found myself not caring that I was essentially listening to Lawrence Arms Jr.

It clocks in at just over 6 and a half minutes; just long enough to grab your attention and show you a good time. Pick this up just in time for spring, roll down your windows, and enjoy.

Captain, We're Sinking – ...With Joe Riley cover artwork
Captain, We're Sinking – ...With Joe Riley — Evil Weevil, 2011

Related features

Signals Midwest / Captain, We're Sinking

Interviews / Fest 13 • November 12, 2014

Related news

Run for Cover Records adds Captain, We're Sinking

Posted in Labels on October 15, 2012

Recently-posted album reviews

Alien Nosejob

How A Mosquito Operates
Anti Fade, Iron Lung (2026)

The one-man band of Alien Nosejob continues to crank out short, angry hardcore in quick bursts. I've lost count of how many records Jake Robertson has now released under the name. I'll just say that while the first couple took some direction changes, the project seems to have found its footing in 1980s-influenced hardcore. With 17 songs in 24 minutes, … Read more

Cancer Bats

Give Me Dirt
Marshall Amplification PLC, New Damage records (2026)

ALBUM HIGHLIGHTS – “Bright Eyes of Gold”, “Give Me Dirt”, “Long Tooth”, “Fools Like You” Almost exactly two years ago, on 8th August 2024, Cancer Bats played Conne Island in Leipzig – a choice they would live to regret. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the centre had slowly become renowned for its radical politics and, more recently, the ban … Read more

Tyler Sonnichsen

The Dead Milkmen
J-Card Press (2026)

When I saw The Dead Milkmen at Toronto’s Diamond Club back in the late 1980s, the floor was a volatile, beautiful mess of colliding subcultures. It was like different species of house flies bumping into one another, wondering what the hell you were doing in the mason jar. You had suburban high school pocket-pen-protector pencil-neck nubile nerds, college radio snobs … Read more