The transition from Fat Mike to Spike Slawson (Swingin’ Utters, Re-Volts) as frontman proves entirely painless, as the irreverent and razor-sharp mood that defines Me First and the Gimme Gimmes remains caustically intact. The tracks on the tracklist, reinterpreted as always through a punk rock lens, never fail to preserve the original melodies while injecting that punk energy that makes them feel both more immediate and more our kind of thing. Between “It’s Raining Men” and a sensational reimagining of OutKast’s “Hey Ya!” (complete with an opening mash-up that tips its hat to the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop”), there are gems like “Rhinestone Cowboy”, transformed from a country staple into a perfect cow-punk anthem, a brilliantly entertaining take on Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, none other than the Backstreet Boys’ mega-hit “I Want It That Way”, and the closing, universally recognisable “We Are the World”, featuring an array of guests (from Milo of the Descendants to many others), with the noble intention of donating the proceeds from this track to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund. Somewhere between tongue-in-cheek and genuinely heartfelt, a Gimme Gimmes record always hits the mark.
Shit the Bed (2026 – Fat Wreck Chords / Hopeless Records)
