THE PENSKE FILE

Excerpt stolen with prejudice from Stomp Records

The Penske File do it for the love of the damn thing. Friendship, rock ’n’ roll, creativity, movement, catharsis. They pull the highs from the lows and scream into the expanse because it is what feels right. Their live shows are celebrations: celebrations of everything loud, spontaneous and beautiful about life. But life is interstitial and it mirrors our world: it is equal parts light and dark, joy and sadness, colour and shade, party and hangover.

No strangers to the road, The Penske File spent the better part of the decade leading into the album’s release on tour, playing festival stages and D.I.Y spaces alike from Vancouver to Hamburg to Gainesville and everywhere in between. They have been hand selected to perform with many of punk rock’s greatest acts, and shared bills with the likes of Bad Religion, The Menzingers, and The Hold Steady, to name a few. In many ways, since their last release, “Salvation,” the band has grown up; still, in many ways, they never will. One thing is for certain though, The Penske File are back with an impressive new album, new eyes, a thirst for celebration, and frankly, they have never sounded better.

For Fans of: Against Me!, The Dirty Nil, The Gaslight Anthem, The Flatliners, Menzingers

THE PENSKE FILE - A RESTLESS SYMPHONY (2013 -Young Heart Records)

TRACK LISTING

1. Chorus O'Time

2. Battered Boat

3. The Valley

4. The Graveyard

5. BLW

6. Steve The Stone

7. I've Been Thinking

8. Wild Youth

9. Paintbrush Eyes

10. The Escapist

11. This Is It...

12. A Restless Symphony

By Mike Bored

The Penske File are an excellent definition of what would be the DIY approach to Canadian Punk Rock.

A Restless Symphony is a melodic folk/punk account of the band's experiences of the aforementioned stuff they have been up to with 13 tracks, each with a different story to tell. Take "I've Been Thinking," most likely the best song on the whole album that starts off with "Yeah I've been thinking about what the hell to apply myself to, taking into consideration all the things that I love to do." A common crossroads we've all been through at one point or another whether it is a career decision, moving to another city or simply going back to school for something but for them it ends up as touring and playing in their band with the lyrics "Like hopping in a van to spread apart the real from fiction, or at least what I construe as the colours inconsistent to black and white." The ending outro definitely ends in a melody that makes you want to rewind and repeat continuously.

"The Valley" is another great folk/punk track very reminiscent of a Billy Bragg, Frank Turner, Johnny Hobo and The Freight Trains mix. It's very explosive, in your face but with such a grace that can be sung in a slower tempo around a campfire or even a piano. The song describes the difference between living in suburbs like Burlington vs. the city with lyrics like "In the centre of this suburb there's a black creek where the kids get whitled down and at the edge of the water there's a seamless hint of autumn in the clouds."

Everyone has different experiences with city and suburbs but this may explain why they prefer to be based in Burlington as opposed to a city like Hamilton or even Toronto, plus if it's not broken why fix it?

SHARING IS CARING