#32: Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - Go Down Under

Never Tear Us Apart (Farriss, Hutchence) - originally by INXS
All Out Of Love (Russell, Hitchcock) - originally by Air Supply
Friday On My Mind (The Easybeats) - originally by The Easybeats
Have You Never Been Mellow (Farrar) - originally by Olivia Newton-John
I've Done Everything For You (Hagar) - originally by Rick Springfield

Spike Slawson - vocals
Chris Shiflett - guitar
Joey Cape - guitar
Fat Mike - bass
Dave Raun - drums
Produced by Me First And The Gimme Gimmes

For those of you who don't know, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes are a pop-punk supergroup consisting of members of Swingin' Utters, NOFX, Foo Fighters and Lagwagon. With every release, the band perform pop-punk covers of songs based on a particular theme. The theme for this E.P., is Australia and was released within a couple of weeks of Amanda Palmer's similarly titled album.

I've got to admit, I've never heard the original versions of any of these songs, and based on the artists that did them I don't particularly care to. All that matters is that these songs are done in a light-hearted manner, and are above all fun to listen to. They've succeeded on both counts, and that's enough to please me in this regard - the band were never meant to be taken seriously, so judging it on anything more than that would just be silly. They've since released a similar E.P. titled 'Sing In Japanese' that I've yet to hear.

Listen Here: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Go Down Under - EP