I’m waiting for the day when the band members of Billy Talent collectively say “Fuck it,” and make their very first album, Watoosh!, available for all to stream. Before they named themselves Billy Talent, they went by the name Pezz and made that record before another band with the same name complained and forced them to change the moniker. I’ve seen fans ask them to play Pezz songs live, and I believe an answer in response was along the lines of them being Pezz songs and not Billy Talent songs. Basically saying that they’d outgrown them and don’t hold them in any high regard. Though in my view, I’d say the album has aged really well. It doesn’t sound like it belongs to any particular time. The tracks are unlike anything the band would do after the name change, which I think adds to the charm. And it’s not as groan-inducing as much as other bands’ earlier material can be.

‘Nita’ is the third song on Watoosh!, featuring probably the most zaniest vocal performances that singer Benjamin Kowalewicz has laid down on tape. I remember being ten years old, laughing out loud when he abruptly goes into motor-mouth mode only a few seconds in, and having to pause it and repeat it because I thought it was so strange. Eventually I let the track continue, and it continued to draw me in. The verses are led by these jazzy progressions, Ian D’Sa pulling off these licks while Jon Gallant and Aaron Solowoniuk lay it down on the rhythm section, all while Kowalewicz performs a spoken-word verse where he details a meeting between himself and a lady – who I’ll assume is the ‘Nita’ in the title. The song moves into the pre-choruse where the track forcefully changes into a more punk-like performance, before exploding into the wordless chorus and falling back into the verses again. There are a lot of melodic changes within this track, too many that I could type paragraph and paragraph about each one. It’s only right that you hear them because the way I write wouldn’t do them justice.

The song is a real us against the world type of song. Guy meets girl, they talk about the strangest things but like each other more because they feel comfortable doing so. They’ll laugh at the people walking to their jobs thinking “suckers” while they sit on the curb and talk rubbish. Sounds like a very carefree affair. What seems to get to the guy the most is the little things she says that stick with him, all of which are listed throughout the majority of the track. But then we reach the song’s ending where the line “You swore you’d never leave my side” is repeated, implying that it’s all coming from a point where the relationship has ended. A bit of a bittersweet one after all, but the fond memories remain. You see? There’s genuine emotion in this song. Free Watoosh!, Billy Talent. Get it out there.