The Pulls, 2000 Effort, The Damnedest Thing has been remastered, and reissued. The result is robust, obnoxious, and quite solid. “Hangover Beach” shows The Pulls, Surf Rock stylings. The Pulls market themselves as a Pop Punk band, and by their own admission, they firmly lean towards the latter. The Damnedest Thing runs deep with 17 tracks, some instrumentals, and an eyebrow raising cover that I won’t spoil here. 

“Kerri Green” is one of the few straightforward love Songs on the record, or more appropriately, love lost. The chorus on “Kerri Green” is particularly well composed, with a hook that sticks. The Pulls tend to pay more attention to detail, than some in their genre. The chord changes aren’t devoid of sophistication, and are deceptively clever. In some cases, the rhythm section never seems to let up, but the band shows dexterity. 

“Runaway Sun” might just feature the strongest Vocal Performance on the record. It kicks off with a crunchy guitar riff, but soon gives way to one of the more impassioned deliveries by Steve Rodgers. He laments on his desire to abandon his entire existence, in its current status. It speaks to that part of us that sometimes longs to start over, by setting fire to our “old” life. It only goes two minutes and some change, but the story is fully fleshed.

The Damnedest Thing is twenty years old, and has been modified in a sense. The two very pivotal years that were 2000 and 2020, represent, drastically different eras in history. For an album to surface, during two cultural turning points, gives The Damnedest Thing a rare distinction. The Pulls themselves, have an interesting story, one of longevity, abandonment, and ultimately, reemergence. That story has lent itself to a damn good album. 

Zachary Rush