This is a nice enough record by a band I know practically nothing about. I'd never heard of The Underground Railroad to Candyland until I went to Fest in 2011 (a brief bit of Googling tells me that the band is related to Toys That Kill, who are a band I've heard of but I'm not sure why, but that's about it). By the Sunday night we were knackered and pretty much punked-out. After watching Dikembe, Failures' Union and Restorations in Looseys' we decided to head home, but on the way back to the hotel we walked past 8 Seconds and there seemed to be a huge party going on inside. The usual queues had long died down so we headed in and caught the end of The Underground Railroad to Candyland's set. I can't quite describe the scene on stage because there was so much to take in. It was like the end of The Shining but without the blood gushing out of the elevators, or at least that's how I remembered it. And I mean that in a good way. The atmosphere was incredible, everyone seemed to be having a great time (the guys from The Arteries were stood just behind us having a ball too) and it seemed like the perfect way to end Fest. I wish I'd known in advance so not to turn up quite so tired.
After that the name stayed on my mind but not strongly enough for me to actually check them out. At a gig sometime last year Sarah found their second album Know Your Sins in the Yo-Yo Records distro that Jan had brought along (I forget who we were watching but it was definitely in The Peel. Lemuria maybe?). I think she had been even more impressed by the set we saw at Fest than I was (she was definitely less tired somehow) so she was very eager to check them out and enjoyed the album. A few months after this I was in Cardiff and went to Ghost Town Records for the first time - Welly from Damaged Records new shop in the "Fashion Quarter" (if you're in Cardiff, I recommend checking it out) and stumbled across the debut album in the second-hand section for £7.50. I decided to chance it, and picked up a couple of cds and a 7" too.
The music is pretty good, it's certainly as upbeat and poppy as I remember. I can definitely see how they'd get such a party going with songs like these. It's not a life-changing record, but it doesn't need to be; what it is is a good album if you want some lively pop-punk for half an hour. There's a strong theme of repetition in the lyrics, but it works well for them. Body of the Bird is the highlight for me but Square Ball and (I'm) Russian Roulette are close contenders.
Like I said, its a nice enough record, and I would definitely see The Underground Railroad to Candyland again if they played the UK.
Format: 12", 5" sleeve, 20x12" poster
Tracks: 12
Cost: £7.50 second hand
Bought: Ghost Town Records, Cardiff
When: 24/11/12
Colour: Transparent yellow
Etching: none
mp3s: no
