You know what was so good about Hot Water Music pre-Epitaph? Here was a raw band with meaningfull lyrics, great songwriting and lots of dynamics. A band that easily appealed to hardcore and punk kids as well as people into indierock.

Over the years Hot Water Music has changed and much of that early energy has faded if you ask me. Enter Make Do And Mend a fairly new band from the Boston area who on ‘End Measured Mile’ combine the raw energy of Hot Water Music with guitarparts reminding me of Jimmy Eat World’s highly acclaimed ‘Bleed American’ record.

Another great thing about Make Do And Mend are the lyrics. Songs like ‘Ghostal’ about seeing someone struggle with addiction or rather playing basement shows than getting a good job on ‘Oak Square’.

On this very site someone placed ‘End Measured Mile’ on his list of best record of the past three years. And that person was right. Punkrock does hardly ever get better than this.

Shield Recordings did an impressive job making this record more easy available in Europe and releasing it in a great gatefold cover that, in my opinion, is a lot better than the thin paper cover of the US release.

If there is one band destined to become a big player in the years to come, it’s Make Do And Mend.

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