I've been a fan of Rancid since I was young. Hell, they were the first endeavor into punk I was really giving a chance at that impressionable young age when MTV was making my purchases for me. I was also a fan of Blink 182 for a few years... before the front row at their concerts started looking like a Backstreet Boys show... what has 300 legs and no pubic hair? There you go.

Looking to stretch their legs from the routines they'd made for themselves, Rancid's Tim Armstrong and Blink 182's Travis Barker teamed up with hardcore lyricist Rob Aston to slap wax on this side project trio appropriately known as the Transplants. What they released is the punkest piece of work anyone's set on the mainstream since I can remember... not that my memory's really anything like I was back when the last good punk CDs was made... Not all together made of the typical punk sound, the punk attitude is worn on the Transplants' proverbial sleeve like a big red and black anarchy patch againt the olive green shoulder of an army surplus trenchcoat. Punk isn't all about loud, raging music backing up the inaudible screaming and shouting of a put-on British accent. Punk's about kicking the world in the nuts, cracking it in the face and pissing in it's eye as you do what you want how you want.

Armstrong, Aston and Barker (Travis, not Bob) do just that, making for a melting pot of musical styles that no self-proclaimed "punk" group to come out of popular music in the last 8 years can hold their little rainbow colored birthday cake candles to. And if they did try to hold their candle to the Transplants? Rob would probably spray 'em with a mouthful of lighter fluid and set their poseur asses up in flames like the Twin Towers. What, is two years too early?

"Romper Stomper"'s got your anger management issues out in the open, "Tall Cans In The Air" is a party anthem for people who thought Fight Club would be great in a home version, "DJ DJ" is the perfect soundtrack to a late night drive through downtown in your Return Of The Living Dead modeled convertible, and "California Babylon" relaxes the mood perfectly after a night of breaking 40oz. bottles over redneck heads caught stumbling through the streets in their Nascar hats after last call. It's a cocktail of emotions and the music that drives them and each track is endearing in it's own sense. But, despite listening to the CD some 20+ times a week, it's not without it's faults. Some concepts are repeated enough to be labeled as "ego driven" and "overly self-endorsing". When you're mentioning your group's name and just how original you are several times within a 12 track album, it can get annoying.

Also, though I love the lines about two-faced people getting twice the jaw cracking retribution placed on them, it's less effective an ideal when it comes up two or three times. But, it's the first effort by the trio and all first efforts have bugs that need to be tweaked like a masochist's nipples, so these oversights I can get over myself. One thing that didn't sit great with me though was "D.R.E.A.M." (Drugs Rule Everything Around Me), which was the most rap heavy track of the album... and I don't like rap. I don't care how much that statement may effect my "street cred", but unlike 90% of the young adult demographic around here in East Bumblefuck, I'm not confused enough in my own identity to let MTV architect my thought patterns and pack my wardrobe with sports jerseys 4 times larger than the rest of my clothes and my girlfriend's pantyhose on my head.

Lucky for me, The Transplants aren't a one-time effort. Though Tim and Travis are still with their respective meal tickets and Rob is concocting a solo work of his own, the three have plans to return near the end of the year for a second collaboration. You can bet I'll be putting down my plastic fantastic at Circuit City when that day comes... or just downloading the whole thing off Kazaa. Hey, I like to sample my merchandise before I let the hardworking suits as Visa pay for it.

Best Song: Hmmm, it's really a toss-up between "Tall Cans in the Air", "DJ DJ", and "Diamonds & Guns". All great songs that happen to come one-after-the-next. But, if I could only have one, I'd have to go with... "Diamonds & Guns". Hey, it's the only thing that gets me interested in Garnier� commercials, and that's quite a feat.