Lucky33’s bio reads as follows: “Lucky33 is a four-piece high energy, old-school punk band from Syracuse NY. Dirty, catchy hooks, sweaty hugs and shitty high fives. In your face punk rock!” Not a truer bio could have been written, especially the part about the shitty high fives.
This Syracuse-based maelstrom has released its fourth album and first live release, Live in a Dive and it’s a burner. While the band’s three previous studio outings are all solid efforts, the live environment is where Lucky33 shines. Live in a Dive is the perfect album to capture that vibe and let the listener enjoy that energy while under quarantine. This is not “incidental music.”
Recorded live in front of a scaled-down audience at Rochester’s Photo City Music Hall this past August, the album offers the listener previews of some new material as well as the classic Lucky33 crowd-pleasers and a ripping cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising.”
Lucky33’s influences are firmly in the ’90s punk scene — think Rancid, NOFX, Pennywise — but their music still reverberates in the roaring (?) ’20s.
Self-deprecation is the order of the day with this quartet but they aren’t above getting sentimental. “Whichever Way is Sunday” (labeled “Whatever Wherever” on the sleeve) is dedicated to lost friends and features melodic vocals.
They don’t take themselves too seriously but they take their performance seriously. Anthemic shout-along choruses and old school punk are what this band is all about as exhibited in the crowd-favorites “PBR” and “Summer.”
The band is currently putting the finishing touches on a studio album at their own Thirty Three Studios. In the meantime, take a listen to the new tracks “Limoncello Boy” and “Butter” in their live iterations on Live in a Dive to get a feel for how the new album will sound.
Live in a Dive is available today exclusively here through Bandcamp. Their entire discography is also available there along with band merchandise.
A scaled-down acoustic version of Lucky33 performed a benefit on The Punksylvania Punkscast Thursday night. Check out their performance and an interview with Zac and Dave below.
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