Yellowcard, 'Ocean Avenue' (Capitol) Released 29/03/04

Didn’t punk rock used to be about being pissed off at the world? Nowadays it seems that it’s more likely to be about being pissed off at girls. Or at Westlife. And who are the people speaking up, making a stand against The Man and his minions? Chris Martin and Thom Yorke. What a dreary world we live in. Almost makes me wish the Manics were still around. I’m off to bed with a mug of Ovaltine. Wake me up when something interesting happens...

Actually, I’m being a little unfair to Yellowcard. Punk rock has always had its perennial losers-in-love. But the bittersweet tales of romance and heartbreak spun by The Buzzcocks or The Undertones were three-minute kitchen-sink dramas full of humour and passion. Yellowcard, by comparison, just whine. Imagine writing a lyric as terrible as "we’re nearly twenty-three/but you’re still mad at me", and not immediately discarding it. You’re nearly twenty-three, but you’re still writing stuff that bad?

Musically, Yellowcard follow the Green Day/Blink 182 blueprint without deviation. Their "new angle" is classically-trained violinist Sean Mackin. They’re like a punk group, man, but they’ve got, like, this dude playing violin. Which is way different from, like, other punk groups. "But I played a viola in ur-punk group The Velvet Underground nearly forty years ago," says classically-trained John Cale. "Shut up, John," say Yellowcard, "you’re spoiling our gimmick."