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Album Details

• Artist: Against Me!
• Album: As The Eternal Cowboy
• Label: Fat Wreck Chords
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2004-01-23

Against Me is the story of a one man band evolving into a full-on band with a record deal to boot. The one man is Tom Gabel and he started up Against Me by himself back in 1997 as a 17 year old and over the years people have kind of migrated towards him creating a full band. The band has been putting out material on No Idea for a couple of years and have secured a deal with none other than Fat Wreck Chords. Against Me's sound is a little different than what you normally find on Fat Wreck. As The Eternal Cowboy starts out with the fairly melodic "T.S.R." with a gentle intro into a balls out song. It's over in under 2 minutes though and then we are on to the cleverly titled "Cliche Guevara" and its Dropkick Murphys singalong style. Apparently Tom was heavily influenced by Billy Bragg and The Replacements when he was growing up and it shows in his songwriting here. He hits on political issues without be preachy (unlike Bragg). The songs on Eternal Cowboy rarely go over the two minute mark making the 11 song album over in 25 minutes. I found myself reaching for the play button every time the CD was over. Punk is part of Against Me but they seem to fit in a folky feel to it, reminding me of the Clash had they listened to Billy Bragg instead of Bob Marley. It's got some swagger to it rather than full-on punk ethics. "Sink, Florida, Sink" is actually a ballad but far from cheesy. I would be interested in checking out Against Me in a live setting.

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