After their split album with The Ataris, after the compilation “Short Music For Short People”, after endless work, Useless I.D. saw their punk career easily opened to success: a lot of touring with famous bands, a lot of exposure to people who wanted to hear more from them and a record label owned by The Vandals’ Joe Escalante that asked them to get signed. What could a punk band want more? And now, here it is, the first full length album on Kung Fu Records, “Bad Story, Happy Ending”.

If you know the band from their early beginning, you might not find a lot of new things on this record. Of course the sound and the production is someway better that on their previous records, but the melody and the songs did not change: always great catchy pop-punk.

Althought the album has 15 songs, it is only 33 minutes long, as it has very short fast songs, as “At the Stadium” or “Day By Day”, that are fast but with a lot of melody that is present on all the songs: the album is very easy-listening, and some songs would gain a lot of success from the mainstream public, as happened to Blink182. Such songs as “Note”, “No Time For Me To Be A Teenager” or “Nothing Logical In This Lifetime” are so catchy and “sunny” that will make you move your foot keeping the rhythm of the poppy guitar riffs. On the last song of the record, “A Year To Forget”, you can also hear a part sung by Kris Roe of The Ataris, and I believe that in general, as he produced this record, he helped Useless I.D. giving them a sound a bit similar to The Ataris’ one, and with this I do not mean this album may be an Ataris album: it’s just that when you ask to Kris Roed to produce and album you will probably will not hear hardcore or heavy metal, but pop punk.

This album also shows that you do not need to be Amercan or to be friend of a record label to get heard, every band can get popular and sign for a really cool label as Kung Fu Records, all you need to do is to work your ass off. Hands down to Useless I.D.! (Carlo)