ION INDIE MAGAZINE August 2015, Volume 15 | Page 48

Music by
BLATANT FINGER
“Sapphire Girl”

Photo credit: 89 Productions

BLATANT FINGER
“Full-On Empty” CD Review by Tim Campbell
Columbus punkers BLATANT FINGER have been blazing the trail for Ohio Punk Rock bands for more years
than they are willing to admit. I know this, because I asked them--and they dodged the question like old
pros. The number of Punk bands that have come and gone from Central Ohio during their tenure could fill
an iPod. After hearing the bands new release, “Full-On Empty”, their longevity makes perfect sense.
Clocking in at 16 tracks and 57 minutes, “Full-0n Empty” is packed to the seams with sing-along hooks and
machine gun tight rhythms. Guitarist FRED vocalist/guitarist TOM BARRETT, bassist MARC CERRANA and
drummer Cary Aldridge, have created an album of songs each as polished and well-crafted as the next. It’s
a shame that any of these tunes have to be considered a “B Side”.
Lyrically, “Full-On Empty” plays like a love letter read at a funeral for the Midwest. Songs like “Little Bastard”
speak to the hard living of growing up with an absentee parent. “Rustbelt Buckles” speaks to a region in
decline being spit-shined by Ikea. For all its doom and gloom, “Full-0n Empty” also has a fun side. A
personal favorite from this record, “Old Flesh & Bones”, harkens back to simpler times--when the band was