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After a decade-plus of opening gigs for such Left Coast big leaguers as Social Distortion and Bad Religion, L.A.s Mad Parade returned in 2000 with renewed vigor and a new label in Cali indie Dr. Strange. Bombs and the Bible, the bands second LP of new material for the label, is an unabashedly old school effort that suggests not only the West Coast scene that MP came of age in, but also the second-wave punk sound of England, circa 1979: G.B.H., the Adicts, and the like. For Bombs and the Bibles first few minutes, head Mad Parader Billy Ledges warbling, oddly articulated yell is hard to figure out. Over the straightforward anthemics of Countdown (which comes complete with a ringing lead guitar line from Joey Kelly), Ledges can sound a little over the hill. But, by the gang chorus of Teenage Magazine, its clear that this kind of punk revivalism needs a more, ahem, mature approach. The rousing Prisoner only backs this feeling up, with its rumbling guitars and shoutable lyrics tailored to the homemade denim vest crowd. It takes a band as old as the Boomtown Rats to deliver a punkd version of I Dont Like Mondays with as much aplomb as Mad Parade does here, adding none of the snickering irony that a freshly-scrubbed outfit of punks who graduated high school in 1999 surely would have. Whats even more refreshing about Bombs and the Bible is Mad Parades own refusal to try and compete with those younger guys. Sure, the albums production updates the bands attack a bit. But from the double-time snare fills of Frightening, to Eye in the Skys celebration of their roots in the street, Mad Parade is proud of its status as West Coast punk veterans. The finale, Shanty Towne, even bristles with the oath I hope I never/never act my age. Dont mistake this look backward for wistful sentimentality; as the 9/11 warning tale Murder in Manhattan proves, Mad Parade is still moving forward as a band. But by sticking to its guns and delivering an album full of the no-frills punk its always done best, Mad Parade makes many of todays greenhorns look sheepish, and might finally get some of the respect its maybe always deserved.

- Johnny Loftus