The Apers

If Mike Ness had grown up listening to late ’80s/early ’90s Lookout bands, he might have started a band like the Apers. The songs from Reanimate My Heart wouldn’t sound out of place next to bands like the Queers, the Mr T Experience, Squirtgun or the Parasites. The Apers feature snotty vocals, songs about girls and enough sense of melody to mend the cockles of any broken-hearted 16-year-old blue-haired kid (see the title track). "The Night Feels So Much Better Than The Day” is the best song here, with its driving rhythm and enough rapid chord changes to get you moving. The vocals are angry enough to help you channel all that misdirected adolescent angst, and when that chorus kicks in with those vocal melodies your ass will be officially kicked. In fact, the Apers’ back-up singers really bring these songs to that next level. Reanimate My Heart will grow on you like that weird mole on your back, beginning as a curiosity and growing until you can’t picture life without it.