Album Review: Aint Gonna Put Us Down – The Displays

Full disclosure: vocalist and bassist Andrew of The Displays is an MCR contributor. But the blogging tendencies of a member of The Displays shouldn’t be a surprise after giving their debut disc Aint Gonna Put Us Down a listen. On it, the band wear their influences on their sleeves, which reads a lot like an issue of the NME from the early aughts.

The thing to consider about The Displays is the “The” band craze broke out back when its members were only 10 years old. Comparisons to The Sights— who also got their start as teenagers playing an unexpected style of 60′s and 70′s style rock and roll— are sure to abound, and the record’s even got The Sights’ alumni Eddie Baranek on guitar and Jim Diamond twiddling the knobs. “Rock And Roll” is pretty exemplary of The Displays’ recipe, this particular track calling for a mix of The Von Bondies’ “No Regrets”, a pinch of The Dirtbombs’ “I Can’t Stop Thinking About It”, and a liberal sprinkling of The Hard Lessons’ “rock and roll will never die!”. That said, the album does get a bit repetitive, even at its short 24-minute length.

The impressive thing about The Displays is when you’re listening to them, it could be 1973 or 2003. The Jonas Brothers these boys ain’t, and it’s refreshing to see a group of kids with an attention span larger than whatever TRL says is cool.

Aint Gonna Put Us Down is available from The Bellyache Candy Shoppe.

Featured Track: 
“Ain’t Gonna Put Me Down”