Apt. 13

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Apt. 13 is the sixth studio album by Langley, British Columbia pop-punk band Gob, released August 26, 2014 on New Damage Records (a division of Dine Alone Records). The album arriv ed seven years after the band's previous release, Muertos Vivos (2007), a gap that frontman Tom Thacker described as having been "cursed from the start" — recording began as early as 2010 but was repeatedly interrupted by the band's lack of management and label, leading to scattered sessions across multiple studios before the record was finally completed and handed to New Damage. The ominous title itself references the troubled journey: thirteen being the unlucky number that seemed to shadow the entire process. The album features the lineup of Thacker on lead vocals, guitarist-vocalist Theo Goutzinakis — making this the first Gob album on which Goutzinakis does not sing lead — drummer Craig Mantle, and new bassist Steven Fairweather. The band self-produced the record alongside their own instincts, a first for a group that had previously always worked within the label system.Musically, Apt. 13 marks a deliberate shift from the straight-ahead pop-punk of earlier Gob records toward a fuller, more layered rock sound that draws on a wider range of influences. The Georgia Straight described the ten-track record as "a vast and varied effort cramming fist-pumping punk, gold-dust-flecked '70s glam, acoustic campfire anthems, and more" into Thacker's tuneful, often existentially anxious lyricism — the title track itself, Thacker told The Martlet, is about "being anxious about leaving, and wondering if you can ever come back." Lead single "Cold" opens the album's pre-release campaign with propulsive melodic punk energy, while "Radio Hell" — the second single — plants hard garage-rock riffs beneath a critique of insincerity in the music industry, and the album's closing track "Call for Tradition" brings things to a quieter, more experimental conclusion. Hellbound.ca noted that the album leaves an impression "closer to melodic hardcore than pop-punk," marking a significant and engaging maturation from the band's earlier sound. Show more