Ever since Mike Wilson was a teenager, he took a liking to many things such as cats and pro-wrestling.  Although his love of furry felines and men in leotards body slamming each other would become well known to friends and fans, it would be his outstanding love of punk and other experimental forms of rock music that would gain him notoriety throughout the area.  

For the last several years Wilson has displayed an uncanny ability of setting up amazing rock shows featuring artists from all across the nation.  Wilson would often play these shows he helped set up with his own bands which have included Nordic Waste, Hard Feelings, Indulge, probably a few I’m forgetting, as well as sitting in with touring bands and of course his project Peer Precious. Wilson has always had a knack of throwing a rocking show regardless if it was playing to an out of control room at Pizza Luce’ or in someone’s basement or living room.

Just recently Wilson left the Twin Ports to presumably further pursue his music. He first went out to California and last I heard he was flying out to London, England to play guitar with the band Bobby Joe Ebola.     

Peer Precious “Bless this Mess” is pretty much what one would expect from a hardcore punk album with a slight mixture of pop-punk and some decent rock riffs that I have a hard time putting my finger on as far as strict influence or genre.

The first track is a 1:05 minute song called “Modern Day Rambo.” Of course starting a punk album with a one-minute long, fast paced, hard rocking song is a perfectly fine way to kick things off. 

The next song “Keep Your Head Up” starts off a slower guitar part then gets straight to it.  Of course there’s a lot of power chords going on in the song, but there are a number nuances with Wilson’s playing, a variety of switch ups and some changes of tempo that keep things interesting.

A song that I felt stands out on the album is “Q-Bert,” it begins with slower alternative kind of riff and then goes in to hard driving punk, but is brought back around with a few change ups. Things really heat up for awhile with Kyle O’Leary’s drums blasting at a full drum role, then the song sways back down and returns into heavier alternative rock which even includes a brief and simple, but well done, guitar lead.

Of course it’s no surprise to find the track “Pretty Kitty (in the Sun)”, where Wilson sings about being careful to not wake a cat because he knows the cat gets sad when he leaves.  There is a decent amount of humor in some of the tracks.

The song “Season Finale” is no exception for songs with humor. “The sun shines for a minute, then it goes away,” sings Wilson in this song about winter time.  Wilson laments, “no wonder it’s so cold, you forgot to shut the f**king door, now I sleep with my jacket, hat, extra blanket all night long.” It is indeed a song for the North Land.

All in all “Bless this Mess” is a snappy and hard-driving punk album that’s fun to listen to.  The guitar work brings a lot more to the table than just fast power chords, although there’s plenty of that, and the drums range from fast, to galloping speeds.  I’ll admit that it’s not my favorite punk record ever, but anyone into punk rock music should be able to easily enjoy it.  As far as a DIY punk album, I have no complaints at all.  Getting ahold of this album might be tougher than just going to the store and buying it.  Some of the songs can be heard on the Peer Precious Reverbnation account. Anyone interested can email timecrusader3000@hotmail.com and I’m guessing they’ll send you a link to the full album.  I’ve also heard that this album will be put on vinyl.