What's a middle-aged punk rocker to do? That's the question permeating much of
Goldfinger's vibrant seventh studio album, 2017's
The Knife. Produced by Zakk Cervini (
All Time Low,
5 Seconds of Summer,
blink-182), the album comes almost a decade after 2008's
Hello Destiny..., and once again centers on lead singer/songwriter John Feldmann. The big change here is that in the intervening years between
Hello Destiny... and
The Knife,
Goldfinger went through several lineup changes that ultimately left Feldmann as the sole remaining original member. Rounding out the core trio here, listed as bandmembers are
MxPx bassist Mike Herrera and
Story of the Year guitarist Phil Sneed. Also, holding down the drum chair is
blink-182's
Travis Barker, who supplies his high-energy sound to all but one of the album's tracks. But longtime
Goldfinger fans who fear that lineup changes equal a big, or even cynical, stylistic shift shouldn't worry. At worst, the addition of Herrera, Sneed, and
Barker turns
Goldfinger into a pop-punk supergroup that Feldmann exploits to positive ends. Fifty at the time of the album's release, Feldmann helped define the alt-rock sound of the '90s with his own brand of snotty, high-energy, California-style ska and pop-punk. Consequently, as with many of his like-minded contemporaries including
Green Day,
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and
Alkaline Trio, while he built his career making music that often thumbed its nose at the establishment and the previous generation's music, he now finds himself as the definition of just such an established artist. Thankfully, he is unabashed in addressing this awkward dichotomy on
The Knife, and strikes a balance of thoughtful introspection and gunslinging punk enthusiasm. It's a sentiment he encapsulates perfectly on the bombastic, somewhat self-effacing "Am I Deaf," singing "You've been fighting with yourself again/It's time to give up/Brush your teeth, comb your hair, what's left of it/Write a song, see a show, stay relevant," and "I know I sound just like my dad did to me/Have I found a way out of the misery/Music used to make me free/
The Who,
Black Flag,
Dead Kennedys/Does anybody have anything left to say?" At the very least, Feldmann has plenty to say on
The Knife and a surfeit of musical influences including
Jimmy Buffett-style tropical reggae ("Tijuana Sunrise"), anthemic punk ("Put the Knife Away"), and, as always, punchy, horn-driven ska-rock ("Who's Laughing Now"). If the question on
The Knife is what is an aging punk rocker to do, then the answer according to Feldmann is keep doing what you're doing -- just be sure to be the best at it. It's a brave sentiment, and
Goldfinger definitely lives up to it. ~ Matt Collar