The Discarded – ‘Not From This Town’

In a day and age when so much music is created on computers with auto-tuned vocals and is overproduced to the point that it is almost impossible to recreate in a live environment (I’m looking at you Top 40), it is refreshing to find some modern music made with an old-school DIY punk aesthetic.

The Discarded is a three-piece garage/punk band from Orangeville, Ontario (about half an hour north of Toronto) made up of JP Wasson on guitar and vocals with his sons, Jared Dean on bass and Caden Jax on drums. They have their own label, Rock Bottom Records, that will be releasing their forthcoming EP, Not From This Town, on March 9, 2019.

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Not From This Town is part of an ambitious project conceived by JP. It is not the only collection of music from The Discarded slated to be released in 2019. It’s also the soundtrack to the first act of a three-act play he’s written.

The story-line of the play, “Sound Check and The Fury,” is along the lines of “Rent” meets a Bruce MacDonald road movie (if you’ve never seen a Bruce MacDonald movie, do yourself a favor and watch “Hard Core Logo” or “Highway 61”). Punk meets girl, punk brings girl on tour, punk loses girl.

Not From This Town highlights how far musically the band, and specifically Jared and Caden, have come from their self-titled debut two years ago. Jared’s bass work puts him right up there with some of the greatest in the punk scene. Caden’s drumming has grown by leaps and bounds as well.

Each track stands on its own as solid punk songs with meaning and feeling that’s almost timeless, even though the songs were written for a play. The lead off track, “Not From This Town,” deals with the feelings of not belonging anywhere. The second track, “I Like To Get High,” written by Jared, is a solid song with a strong bass line. My favorite track is “My Life Story” that extols the virtue of being true to yourself.

If you are in the Toronto area, be sure to catch the release of Not From This Town at Duggan’s Brewery on Queen St W. on Saturday March 9. Show starts at 8:00 and is all ages.

TAGS: The Discarded