Album Review: Pkew Pkew Pkew – “Optimal Lifestyles”

By: Kirstin Bews –
Follow @kirstyisla__

Toronto-based punk band Pkew Pkew Pkew, are releasing their third album, Optimal Lifestyles, on March 1st via Dine Alone. Known for their lively beer-soaked shows, Pkew Pkew Pkew pack a punch with no-nonsense lyrics and strong musical compositions in this release.   

If you’re naming a band after the sound of toy guns, chances are you don’t take yourself too seriously. This is a founding premise of Optimal Lifestyles. Seemingly, the most favourable lifestyle for Pkew Pkew Pkew is one where the party doesn’t end and everyone is cool with one another. This solidifies them as the Peter Pans of Canadian punk, while they rebel against the responsibilities that come with growing up.  

Carrying similar messages to their 2017 release, + One, Optimal Lifestyles opens up  firing on all cylinders with a heavy drum beat alongside a screaming guitar riff. A  link between the two albums is found in + One, where “Glory Days” brings the idea that, “If those were your glory days, you must be real shitty now”. The first Optimal Lifestyles track, “Still Hanging Out After all These Years” reiterates this idea in the chorus with, “same dumb kids, maybe that makes us dumber”.

Pkew Pkew Pkew may think that they are the same dumb kids, but they recognise the growth of those around them with their track “Adult Party”. The singer makes his opinion on partying 8-till-12, splitting six packs and having dip as a snack very clear. Mocking the lame scene with “don’t thank me for those 12 beers, because they’re mine”. Comparing himself to the other adults, the singer blatantly explains “when I said these people ain’t my kind, I’m drinking more than everyone here combined”. Although the band don’t think this is their problem, noting the others around them look “dead in the eyes”, presumably due to the boredom of partying like an adult. The rejection of pretension is carried over to those younger with “rich kids go fuck yourselves, if there’s some in the audience go somewhere else”.

Optimal Lifestyles is not all about irresponsibility. ‘65 Nickels’ illustrates the scenario of escaping someone’s company at the end of the end rather than enduring their company on the way home. 65 nickels total the $3.25 needed for a single TTC subway ticket, with each nickel representing “every shitty thing you put me through”. The singer tells of how being weighed down by nickels is better than walking home with “you”. Standing up for yourself, preventing arguments and avoiding driving under the influence, create an undercurrent of responsible action. The music video stands as proof for the “we don’t take ourselves seriously” mantra by showing the band’s fun and personable nature.

You can catch Pkew Pkew Pkew at the Horseshoe Tavern on Feb. 28th for The Optimal Lifestyles release show. Unless, you’re a rich kid, then you can go somewhere else.