Shut Your Mouth (album) explained

Shut Your Mouth
Type:Album
Artist:Frenzal Rhomb
Cover:Frenzal Rhomb - Shut Your Mouth.jpg
Released:20 November 2000 (Australia)
20 March 2001 (USA)
Genre:Pop punk
Punk rock
Skate punk
Length:40:47 (US/Re-release version)
Label:Epic, Epitaph (re-release), Fat Wreck Chords (USA)
Prev Title:A Man's Not a Camel
Prev Year:1999
Next Title:Sans Souci
Next Year:2003

Shut Your Mouth is the fifth studio album by Australian punk rock band Frenzal Rhomb, released on 20 November 2000. Originally scheduled to be released on 6 November, it was the first and last Frenzal Rhomb album to be issued in Australia on the Epic label which dropped the band less than six months later. It was released by Fat Wreck Chords around the world and re-issued by Epitaph/Shock Records in the band's native Australia with the U.S. track listing.

In a 2023 interview, vocalist Jay Whalley described Shut Your Mouth as being "universally regarded as our worst record".[1] Guitarist Lindsay McDougall agreed with this assessment of the album, stating flatly "it sucked". McDougall cited a combination of uninspired songwriting and a poor relationship with their record producer as reasons behind the album's shortcomings. [2] Both Whalley and McDougall noted that the upside of the experience was the large cash advance from their label Sony, who dropped Frenzal Rhomb shortly afterwards without requiring the band to pay this money back.

Track listing

Original Epic/Sony Records Australian version

This version of the album came in a stickered sleeve and with a multimedia component with a 'My City Of Sydney' film clip (not available anywhere else) and an interview with the band members. There is a hidden song on Track 0, "Baby Won't You Hold Me In Your Arm". A longer version of this song later appeared on the For the Term of Their Unnatural Lives compilation record.

The version of "Everything's Fucked" on this release has the term "racist cunt" censored and replaced with animal noises.

US and re-released Australian version

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Episode 168: Jay Whalley of Frenzal Rhomb on LoFi Interviews with HiFi Guests . Jughead's Basement . 25 May 2023 . 25 April 2023.
  2. Web site: Billy Bob's Frenzal Rhomb interview with Lindsay McDougall. Billy Bob’s Album of the Month . 25 May 2023 . 4 April 2023.