The Ejector Seats is a bit of a mystery band to me; it’s pretty hard to find anything about them online. I've learned about two other bands with this name, and a lot about ejector seats in general, but not a lot about the band in question. Discogs tells me the band members have adopted names like Fluffy, Ty Lennol, Mr. Wizzard, T-Pot, etc. With black metal, I find this nickname thing a bit childish and encountering it with a lo-fi punk band like The Ejector Seats does not make me change my mind about pseudonyms. I'm afraid we’re not off to a good start here.
But you are not here for my opinion on the name a band member chooses to adopt, nor are you interested in my desk-research regarding a band. Let’s skip that and focus on the release that’s discussed here. Blueprint For A Miserable Existence is the fifth album by The Ejector Seats. Based on what I hear on this album, I am not tempted to look into their past recordings. If you are still here perhaps you are now wondering, “Why not?” Allow me to explain. On this record, The Ejector Seats play a very lo-fi sounding version of punk with keyboards. I can deal with lo-fi records, no biggie. Though, it has to be done right. I can deal with keyboards in a punk setting. Again, when done right. As you can guess now, this record sounds quite horrible. The production and engineering suck all the energy right out of the mix. An energy that was not there in huge quantities anyway. The worst part is, this must be the sound the band strives for and to top it off the songwriting is bland. Fluffy the lead singer and main songwriter, who also plays bass and guitar, recorded and engineered this album himself.
Enough bitching about the sound of the album, though. I have more complaints. The keyboards hardly add anything to the music. I like my music stripped down, especially with punk music. If you add another instrument, make it count! If it doesn’t, leave it out. Less is more is the adagio. On Blueprints For A Miserable Existence, it’s usually more disturbing background noise to my ears.
Is there really nothing nice I can say about this record? Well, to be honest, it’s been a really, really long time since a band has made it so difficult for me. The one thing that stands out is the lyrics on “Why Me, Why Now?”:
“There is a first time for everything, I hope this is the last time for this.”
It expresses exactly how I feel about listening to this album.
