Progressive Bad Luck

local skate-punk trio Bad Luck Blackouts

Bad Luck Blackouts
Bad Luck Blackouts

“Keep an eye out,” warns Johnny Kraft, drummer for local skate-punk trio Bad Luck Blackouts. “It’s been a slow time for us but it’s been a very productive time.”

Since February 2013, Bad Luck Blackouts have been recording their full-length debut locally at Roadrunner Studios. The album, simply called 13 (in keeping with the band’s bad luck theme), is out now.

Fans of the band won’t be disappointed in the material; album-track “Darkside” hits harder than ever — vocalist/bassist Kyra Van Winkle’s punk rock ashtray snarl makes Courtney Love sound like a choir girl, while Kraft and guitarist Aaron Carlson play an impressively taut approximation of big league, classic punk from the ’80s and ’90s like Bad Religion or Screeching Weasel.

However, Kraft thinks the band’s sound has evolved. The new material is “more progressive punk than our old-school, skate-punk roots,” he says, adding that the album is “a little more refined after being together for over three years. We’ve expanded our songwriting but stuck with the punk game.”

Refined or not, self-titled album track “Bad Luck Blackouts” is a short and sharp knife wound, a punk rock anthem worthy of the ages; Van Winkle coughs up blood while Kraft’s driving back beat and Carlson’s screeching guitar solo add an amped-up rockabilly feel.

Bad Luck Blackouts play with Wetsock and The Soothesayers 10 pm Saturday, Dec. 21, at Luckey’s; $5.