The Inner City Surfers - "Time To Travel On" CD Review!!

It's now time for our 146th monthly CD review at The Sault Metal Scene, and with no major new metal, hard rock, or punk albums on sale this month, let's dive into the archives for a look at local punk quartet The Inner City Surfers' third CD "Time To Travel On"! This review is tied in with frontman Dustin Jones' set with his new group Jonesy Land at The Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir this weekend, preview forthcoming. Public information has been lacking on "Time To Travel On" in the last decade (the band even admitted on their Facebook page that this CD "wasn't the most fun for the 4 of us to make" and gave them "kind of a skewed view of the album"), and surviving pages don't glean a lot more about it's initial release. As best as I can tell, "Time To Travel On" was independently released circa 2005, possibly in late 2004, and the producer of the album was credited on the back of the case as "Slabba Blender" (a name that garnered zero Google hits when I searched for it).

I don't own a physical copy of this album yet, but The Inner City Surfers' classic lineup is present here, including Dustin Jones on vocals & guitar, Dave Bahun on guitar, Brad "Example" Lacell on bass, and Mikey Hawdon on drums. While out of print, "Time To Travel On" is on sale digitally for $7.99 on Amazon, and it can be streamed on Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Music, Tidal, and YouTube (song names below are linked from the latter). Featuring 10 songs running for about 29 minutes in length, let's begin this review!

The opening track ("Slow Days") is actually the longest one on offer, partly thanks to a 30 seconds-long fade-in intro with lots of feedback. When the song proper kicks in, it's a pop punk number with a swinging guitar melody and plain-spoken vocals from Dustin with very relatable lyrics, which they were always good at. The track does a good job marrying their punk base with more of a folksy laid back energy at the same time, and Mikey's drumming is a big help to get the point across, though the guitar solo/bridge could have been more of a focus. Fun opener that will appeal to fans of The Surfers' different sides! Next is the album's partial title song (and shortest cut) "Travel On", which ramps up the skate punk intensity and speed, but if I'm being totally honest, Dustin's vocals are really forced here, and the song may have benefited if he didn't try to sound so angry and forceful, especially the repeated screams in the chorus.

The song proper has a freewheeling attack that is fun to hear, but with The Inner City Surfers' evolution as musicians, this feels more like a leftover from the self-titled blue album to me, and isn't as indicative of their mid-2000s strengths. Fun for what it is, but let's travel on to track #3, "When You're Around", which has a very distinct drum beat and an interesting retro sound to the backing music that almost sounds like they added an organ player?! Vocally, this is a driving pop punk number, which gives an interesting melodic contrast, though the layering of the singing late doesn't really click for me. I wish the music was a little more punk-based, but it's a solid track that better uses The Surfers to their abilities! Fourth is "Rollin'" (not to be confused with the Limp Bizkit song), which gives us our first true folk-focused song on the CD, so fans of The Rising Tide may be curious to hear this one.

This strikes me as a song that would have played really well live, especially as an ode to hitting the road, and I like how the guys' vocals layer on top of each other when they sing the title! There's nothing really punk about "Rollin'", but it's a fun sing-along number that's well composed, makes good use of Brad's bass skill, and showcases their overall range nicely! Fifth on the album is "Settle In", which returns to a punk style, and just in time for an excellent display of drumming from Mikey, even if the song spiritually doesn't call for them! The soft, evocative vocals suit the upbeat guitar work, including an all-too-brief solo by Dave, and while the song is well composed, it's a little too upbeat and light for most of it's runtime, drums excepted. Nice change of pace, but there's better on the album. The second half begins with "Perfect Moment", which will be more to the taste of punk diehards!

Immediately getting to business with Dustin's melodic vocals, the song is constantly in forward motion, and while it can sound a little busy aside from the bridge, genre fans will be right at home with this upbeat folk-tinged punk number! My biggest issue with it is the repetition of the title, which is recited thrice in every chorus, before being buried by layered verses at the end. Not ideal for a sub-3 minute song, but it's a good track while it lasts! Song #7 is "No Cure", which is arguably Dave's best showcase on the album for pure guitar work, and lets this song get as close as we've likely ever gotten to a pure "metal" song from The Surfers. As such, the forced aggressive vocals from "Travel On" return here, but they at least fit this song a little better. Brad fits in well on bass, and the guys do play a song of this style well enough, but it's not where their talents are best served, Dave aside.

Next up is "If I Leave", which features low, downbeat, gravelly-sung verses (is that Brad on vocals?) and more rock-inspired choruses with heavily layered vocals that are hard to make out, but the band sure soars when playing at these points! Another more experimental part of the album to be sure, but I like where it's going, and the jump in styles works, going from the ground to the sky in no time flat. Not the most punk song on offer, but it's a sleeper pick for me! The penultimate song is "Can't Wait", a shorter track that again will call to mind a live folk/country sing-along more than a punk show. Laid back and well performed by all parties, with suitably raspy singing to go around, this admittedly won't appeal to most punk fans. That said, if you always took to The Surfers and The Tide's folksier numbers, you will be right at home, in spite of the abrupt ending.

"Time To Travel On" ends it's road trip with "Don't Pour Me Anymore", a straight-up drinking song that makes good use of the band sharing vocals, catchy percussion, and another nice laid back vibe that would not be out of place at a pub on the East Coast. I wouldn't have ended the album like this, but it does foretell some of the paths The Rising Tide would later take, and I can see how this would be a live hit! Myself, I prefer The Surfers as a punk band, but to each their own.

So what are my final thoughts on The Inner City Surfers' (arguably) forgotten album? I like a lot of it, you can see where the guys were growing as musicians from their first two CDs, but the best was yet to come. Musically, everyone performs well, with Dustin's distinctive vocals usually flowing nicely, he and Dave delivering fun and suitable riffs (plus a few key solos from Dave), while Brad's bass work and Mikey's steady drumming kept the rhythm and time throughout. This album does have more of a punk base than 2002's "Laughing On The Outside", but there was still room for experimentation into folksier stylings, and even metal on one occasion, so there should be a little something for everyone. Honestly, I think I prefer "Laughing On The Outside" musically, which had more of a cohesive mix of sounds, where the songs on "Time To Travel On" could too often have a balance of genres that didn't work for me.

The aggressive forced singing on "Travel On" & "No Cure" weren't my thing, nor was the lyric repetition on "Perfect Moment", and on some of the softer/folksier songs, they just weren't in my genre wheelhouse. I think I liked "Slow Days" & "When You're Around" the most of the punk songs, while "I'll Be Gone" was my favourite of the non-punk half. I was either brand new to following the local scene or not quite there when "Time To Travel On" was released, so I can't comment on the difficulties that The Surfers dealt with when recording this album, but the fact that they didn't re-record any of it's songs on 2007's acclaimed self-titled CD (a.k.a. "The Black Album"), but re-did three cuts from "Laughing On The Outside" may be a sign that they wanted a do-over. I'm not sure if The Surfers ever really de-emphasized this album on purpose, but musically speaking, it mostly holds up in for fans! 

While not The Inner City Surfers' most balanced album, there's a lot of good here that helped pave the way for their final and best remembered CD, so be sure to give "Time To Travel On" a listen at the above links, and maybe we'll review "The Black Album" next year? I hope you guys liked this month's CD review, and here's what I can tell you about what we may be reviewing on the site in September 2021! In short, I have no clue, but our next "Where Are The New Albums?" post next Thursday will have some hints! As usual, new paid albums get precedence, followed by archive albums, tied in with bands playing live that month if possible. Our six month anti-bias buffer period is still in effect, so our next review will not be of anything by Molten Imp, Late & Loud, or Slumshine, assuming they put anything out so soon. I'll keep you guys posted in any event, and stay tuned for more news and notes on the site this week! Thanks everyone!