Mike Vallely has been a well established pro skateboarder since the 80s' launch ramp craze boosted his airwalk steez up into the pro ranks. Over the years he's built up a heavy reputation as a no bullshit gnarkill mother fucker on his board. Now Mike V is back with an EP that's a sludgy barrage of unmanaged anger. Nobody personifies anger as thoroughly as Mike V. From beating up jocks, professional wrestling, and being a poor sport on Thrasher Magazine's King of the Road contest (Mike V's was on team Element and they came in last place) he's always down with taking the extreme moniker to its limits.

A few years ago he appeared with a band called The Rats who were pretty hot for a while, recording a seven-inch on Indecision Records and touring with CKY, Pennywise and others. I'm not sure what happened with The Rats but I think they're done. On those tours they also played some shows with legendary Southern California punk band Death By Stereo. This is probably where Mike V met Paul Miner (old DBS bass player) who produced this five song EP, Enjoy the Ride.

As soon as I learned that Rev Mother was Mike V's band I shrugged it off figuring I didn't want to listen to his self-righteous and sometimes egomaniacal baditude. Credit Paul Miner (a well known dude in the punker world) for steering Mike away from skate rock towards more coherent and concrete song structures. To be completely honest I've never really heard The Rats, but Enjoy The Ride's extended outros and lethargic grungy riffs worked for me more often than not, and the whole thing is definitely a pleasant surprise. Mike V's lyrics convey his heartfelt belief in the power of will to surmount challenges through self-respect and confidence. "There's a bullet, its name ideology. If I was around between you and me. We have the guns cocked, loaded, ready." You get the idea right? Before you get all excited and go hunting for this CD you better chill out and remember it's only an EP so that means the full length should be decent if not good. This is a good warm-up though.