While it can often be difficult to separate art and the artist, sometimes it’s necessary. Dave Smalley, Don’t Sleep’s singer, is a vocal conservative advocate and, ideologically I dwell somewhere on the polar opposite end of the political spectrum. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t want to sit down and discuss our vastly different ideas with him, I would relish the opportunity to do so as I honestly believe that rational debate and open communication is the only way that we’ll ever move forward as a species. That doesn’t mean that I’ll ever agree with Dave’s point of view, I won’t and I’m also pretty sure that he’ll never come around to my way of thinking.  But it’s good to be able to talk instead of just blindly screaming at the walls of our individual echo chambers.

That said, let’s talk about Don’t Sleep’s second album Turn the Tide, which unsurprisingly, is filled to bursting with twelve rock solid, melodic and infectious Hardcore tunes. Smalley has finally embraced his past and used it the inspiration to fashion Don’t Sleep’s music, which is a near perfect fusion of Can I Say era Dag Nasty and Scream circa Bang the Drum. There isn’t a song on Turn the Tide that you won’t be humming the tune to by the third time you play it, and by the fifth, you’ll be singing along, with a cheesy, punk rock grin plastered all over your face.  It’s times like this that I really miss pits… Tim Cundle