Milwaukee ska-punks Something To Do are set to follow their 2020 LP Give Me Attention (and their 2022 odds-and-ends EP Assemble!) with a new album in early 2024. It’s called Here Comes The Panic, and its first single is “Draw Me Like One Of Your French Girls,” which premieres in this post. It’s a sharp, energized ska-punk song with great horns and great hooks, and it takes inspiration from the Titanic film. Here’s what the band says about the album and the new song:
Scoop on album: our new album was recorded by Shane Hochstetler of Howl Street Studios in Milwaukee (longtime band pal) and mastered by Carl Saff at Saff Mastering (who has done amazing work with great acts like Algiers, Bad Operation and Jim O’Rourke plus 1M more). On our last couple of albums we made a lot of room for pushing our style in a lot of directions, but this one is shorter and pretty dang focused – lots of ska-ish rock & roll. It’s kind of a cliche but it’s also true – we’re in Back To Basics Mode because the basics really scratch the itch in these rash-inducing times.
About this song: a decent amount of the songs on this album are about feeling over the hill (which, honestly, we’ve been doing songs about that since we started when we were super young – perspective is weird, but one of the best parts about being older). This one is specifically about Kate Winslet’s character Rose in Titanic and realizing that while people generally think of Titanic as a big romantic story, it’s just as much about a person having a crisis of confidence or midlife (quarter life?) crisis, which is why she abandons the vile Billy Zane for Leo. Basically we put ourselves in her shoes and voila, rock stuff.
Listen below. Something To Do also have some upcoming Midwest dates with fellow Midwest ska-punks Mustard Plug, who just put out their first album in nine years, Where Did All My Friends Go?. That’s a great record too, and you can read our interview with the band and pick up our exclusive pinwheel vinyl variant. All Mustard Plug/Something To Do dates are listed below.
Mustard Plug / Something To Do — 2023 Tour Dates
Nov 9 – Milwaukee WI @ Xray Arcade
Nov 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown VFW
Nov 11 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Nov 12 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill Duck Room