Off the Leash

An easy answer to the yet-unasked question, "What if Bad Religion had been raised on a steady diet of authentic Scottish bagpipe music?" Canadian-Scottish bagpiper-punks the Real McKenzies combine a booze-soaked fascination with all things kilted with the hard-driving melodies of classic SoCal hardcore. Anthemic fist-pumpers like "The Lads Who Fought and Won" capture the celebratory power of traditional balladry and push it forward with punk muscle and velocity, and ballads like "Drink Some More" and "Guy on Stage" could raise a tear from the eye of a hardened elderly Scot. The concept's gimmicky, but the execution's for real.