By: Aidan Morris
Punk Rock at its finest, Positive Charge’s new album “How to Fit In and Why It Matters” speaks to my little punk heart. Great riffage, vocal delivery, and musicianship bring the poignant lyrics to life in this nine-track album that will leave you wanting more.
The title encapsulates the intention behind this record perfectly. The record consists of a variety of narratives: being a sexual minority, mental health issues, first impressions, as well as broader concepts such as the global warming crisis, alienation caused by the education syste
m, and violence between social classes. The theme of fitting into the world and how it transcends so many different facets, paired with tonnes of energy, reminds me why I fell in love with punk rock in the first place.
There was an original thought to release the record as two corresponding EPs, “How to Fit In” and “Why It Matters”, as described by Rich on the Meowing Into the Abyss podcast, but then decided “It’s been six years of making this, we might as well put this out together so we can work on something else.” You can see the division of the original intention on the tracks, with songs like “First Impressions”, “One Life: A Million Stories” and “Push” being more introspective and personal, or “How to Fit In”. While songs like “Beducation”, “Selling the World” and “Strike A Pose” speak to wider society, or “Why it Matters”. Rich explains
The recording of “How to Fit In and Why It Matters” has been a six-year effort, championed by Rich Chris, lead singer and guitarist and Jordan Morlidge, bassist and vocals. The recording process has seen lineup changes due to various reasons: band members having a collective 4 kids, shifting careers, and (I hate to mention) the global pandemic. Through all of this, the record has spent years being perfected. The recording started in 2018 when ex-drummer Anthony Cardozo recorded his parts at Pebble Studio, with studio time won in a contest. Ex-guitarist Cam Hanes and bassist Jordan Morlidge recorded their parts at Alex Jakimczuk’s house (bass was later rerecorded at Capital Rehearsal Studios). This is one of the most long-winded, tumultuous, do-it-yourself recording processes I have ever heard of, and it is truly a testament to the band’s spirit that they were able to put together such a great record.
Moving to the writing of the record the vast majority of the tracks are written by Rich, except for “Strike A Pose” which underwent significant rewrites after the departure of previous vocalist Jake Dunlop. The songs were largely ready at the time of their previous album “Under Growth” which was released in 2017. Rich and Jordan dive deeper into the band’s story, recording the record, songwriting and more in episode ten of Meowing Into The Abyss podcast.
Shifting back to the record itself, it starts with a sample from The Simpsons (S7E24), where grandpa Abe Simpson famously proclaims “I used to be with ‘it’, but they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary. It’ll happen to you” – which rather candidly summarizes the record’s theme. I won’t spoil the record, but this is one of the best punk records I have ever heard come out of Ottawa. With this record’s story, the lyrics and themes, and musicianship – it is definitely worth a spin, which won’t take long in typical punk fashion, with a total runtime of 21 mins 12 seconds.
You can catch Positive Charge, along with other local greats Guest Room Status, Casual Tragedies, and Crisis Party on Saturday, March 16th at SAW Centre, where they will play the new album in full!