A glorious thirty-minute guide to The Sad Clown Paradox.
This one’s Marmite. Regan Ashton is probably best known for being in Problem Daughter, a moderately successful punk outfit from Salt Lake City. He told New Noise magazine back in April that most of the songs on ‘Infinite Pest’ were three to thirteen years old. He relates to them less and less and this album is a bit of a goodbye to certain parts of his past, a past that has included coming to terms with being bipolar along with addiction to drugs and alcohol. He’s been quite open about this both on Borracho stablemate Charles Ellsworth’s podcast: A Dirtbags Guide to Life on the Road and Jason Shreurs’ excellent Scream Therapy. If this is goodbye, it is a riotous folk punk exit with an intentional rootsy-sound. Musically the album’s excellent and Ashton’s lyrics are not wasted. There’s the odd expletive. The friends Ashton assembled at Rigby Road Studios helped him elevate his ‘acoustic jingles’ to multi-instrumental tunes complete with banjo, fiddle, piano and supporting harmonies. It is also brilliantly produced, mixed and mastered by Jordan Clark. The deal breaker is Regan Ashton’s voice which people will attune to or not.
There’s no doubt Ashton has been to some dark places emotionally and mentally. On these tracks, his lyrics remain self-deprecating but he’s not wallowing in his misfortunes. There seems to be an acceptance of what’s-done-is-done and before moving on, there might be material for a song in there. Indeed, this album could almost be the soundtrack to an imaginary Coen Brothers punk-themed film called Infinite Pest. The final track ‘You Gotta Cherish It’ is an infectious, even optimistic, stomper. Opening track ‘Resume’ could be misinterpreted as an irreverent song about suicide, known to be a definite risk in bipolar disorder, but it is cleverly handled. ‘Poorwill’ is about getting clean and getting away from old friends, a way of living he’s trying so hard to shed. A big-picture highlight is ‘American Swill’, a track one could imagine the Dead Kennedy’s jammin’ acoustically. No U.S. politician will be seeking Ashton’s endorsement to use it. ‘Tumbleweed’ and ‘Tired About It ‘ (both released on an EP in 2021) , ‘So it Goes’, ‘Smoke it on the Ride Home‘ and ‘6 ½ Billion Hearts‘ all just fly by.
In that podcast episode of Dirtbag’s Guide, Ellsworth tells a wonderful story about Ashton. They had known each other in Salt Lake City but then lost touch. Some time later while attending a Gaslight Anthem show, Ellsworth was sure he recognised the kid who had just managed to get up on stage, sing along with Brian Fallon and then throw himself off into the crowd. Ashton then tried it again but was grabbed by security who started to throw him out. Brian Fallon stopped singing and demanded Ashton be let back in declaring…”that’s Punk Rock”. If, as the saying goes Old Punk Rockers never die, they just stand at the back, no one can begrudge Regan Ashton some time at the back to get on top of things. As he succinctly states, “Later, Old Pain. Peace the fuck out”.
On Ashton’s Bandcamp site he describes himself as “A dilettante with a little native ability”. He’s better than that. This album grabs your attention from start to finish.
