Published in LiP Magazine
[http://www.lipmagazine.org]

THREE WAY TIE FOR A FIFTH
This Bike is a Pipe Bomb
Plan-It-X Records, 2004

reviewed by Erin Wiegand
03.21.05

Another notch in the handlebars for This Bike is a Pipe Bomb. With their third full-length album, Three Way Tie for a Fifth serves up more of the same lo-fi, catchy, socially-conscious folk punk that has defined them as a band since 1997. Fusing country music and folk ballads with straightforward three-chord punk rock, TBIAPB has created a style that is truly unique. After exploring a few different sounds, the band really took off in the late 90s when a man named Spot (well known in the early 80s punk scene for his work in producing bands on the SST label, such as Black Flag and The Minutemen) approached them after a show, wanting to jam. Spot showed the next night with his viola, and became a regular fixture in the band, even joining them in the recording studio for their first full-length album, Dance Party With…This Bike is a Pipe Bomb. Sadly, Spot didn't return for subsequent albums, and it feels like a crucial element of TBIAPB's style has been lost.

Three Way Tie for a Fifth isn't exactly a concept album, but begins and ends with two songs about boxing: "Jack Johnson" and "The Ballad of Sonny Liston," respectively. "Jack Johnson" is one of the highlights of Three Way Tie, and is by far their most "together" song on an album that, like the band, has a tendency towards sloppiness. Sloppiness is forgiven, though, when the songs are so damn fun: fast beats, harmonica solos, and cowbells. This is music to dance to, preferably badly and without inhibition.

But TBIAPB is certainly not all fun and dancing—a closer listen to the lyrics reveals some thoughtful statements on racism, labor struggles, capitalism, police brutality, and love. Lead singer Ryan Modee extols the virtues of community in "What Shall We Do." "Better Off Dead" calls for a life lived without fear: "Gonna fly forever on our handlebars / If we don't live like this then we're better off dead." "Jack Johnson" tells the story of the famous boxer who defeated the "Great White Hope" and caused riots throughout the country, "all because they didn't want a black man winning in their ring." Three Way Tie, like TBIAPB's previous albums, also features a great cover song: on this album, they choose the labor ballad "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)." (The two previous albums offered covers of "Sixteen Tons" and "We Shall Not Be Moved.")

While other bands might not be able to get away with a near-total lack of development or change in style, TBIAPB succeeds because they're doing what they've always done: making music for themselves—and for their fans—without pretension and without a thought for whether or not their sound is "marketable." A new listener might do well to check out their first album, Dance Party With…This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, but for old fans, Three Way Tie for a Fifth won't disappoint. [ L i P ]

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