Over the Hill is a Canadian band from Montreal, made up of guys who have been around the scene for quite a few years. If you’re curious about which bands the members played in before, check out the interview we did with them earlier this year on our website – you’ll see they’re a bunch of great guys.
As for this record – it came out in 2025 on the French label Une Vie Pour Rien Vinyles. This time the band decided to approach Oi! a bit differently, with humor, taking on topics that aren’t exactly typical for Oi!/streetpunk. The main themes here are parenthood, middle age, and growing older within the scene. Because of that, the lyrics are pretty unusual compared to what you usually find in Oi! releases. For me, it makes perfect sense – we all live some kind of „normal“ civilian life, far removed from all the Oi! clichés that we still love to listen to and shout along to at gigs. And on top of that, I like people who can laugh at themselves and take things with perspective.
Musically, this is classic Oi! punk, sure to please fans of bands from the ’80s and early ’90s. Don’t expect any major genre experiments, but do expect Oi! punk played with energy, enthusiasm, and plenty of singalong choruses. And that’s exactly what I look for in a band with the word Oi! written on the flyer.
The album contains eleven tracks, mostly in English, but also four in French (Brüle, Du Mauvais Sang, Bruyer Du Noir, and On S’En Balance). In my opinion, it’s a very enjoyable record, recorded with humor and with a lot of love for this kind of music. It reflects the fact that you can raise kids with dignity, grow older, and still stay active in music you love – without it turning into an empty cliché. It’s simply an honest reflection of how life really is, even if you’ve been immersed in this subculture your whole life.
While Never Forget is about getting ready for a trip with kids (and anyone who knows, knows it’s exactly like that), We’re All Right is about the urge to fight, Brüle is about working-class life, We Are about the changing scene, Can’t Run about the struggles of an aging guy who still wants to join a street riot, and Low Hanging about the troubles of middle age. More serious and political themes also show up, like in Conformist Pawn.
I really like this album – that’s why Over the Hill were one of the first bands we reached out to for an interview for our webzine. My favorite track is We’re All Right with its ironic lyrics, but honestly, I couldn’t pick just a few highlights, because the whole record is great. So I can only recommend it.
