Frank Iero And The Patience fill in the gaps with 'Keep The Coffins Coming'

With a title like Keep The Coffins Coming you might expect Frank Iero and the Patience‘s newest EP to be dark. And rightfully so, as last October they were involved in a bus crash while on tour in Sydney, Australia that caused the next several months of touring to be postponed. While the EP isn’t actually about that (it was recorded between album cycles, before the accident took place) they do approach the situation with a bit of self-aware humor: on the EP’s cover art, which features a painted, childlike vampire, they refer to themselves as “Frank Iero and ‘The Patients.'”

Coffins features songs that listeners may already be familiar with, but here they are presented together for the first time. The EP opens with an early, alternate version of “I’m A Mess”, which originally released as the first single from 2016’s Parachutes. It’s the strongest track on the EP and the only one that feels like a true single. “BFF,” in contrast, plays like a beloved b-side, the type of song meant as a special discovery for the fans ready to look for it. Clunky yet simple, Iero is earnest as he sings about being “best friends forever, but not now”, and there’s an inescapable charm in knowing he originally wrote and recorded the song with his then-three-year-old twin daughters Lily and Cherry.

Originally performed live under the title “Xmas Sux”, “No Fun Club” is quick and to-the-point. Here Iero pokes fun at himself for being the self-proclaimed “president / CEO of the No Fun Club”, a title he says he’s earned. There’s something to appreciate about a line as straightforward as “I just wanna be what the fuck I wanna be”- don’t we all feel the same? Perhaps the most intriguing moment on Coffins is the cover of “You Are My Sunshine”, which serves as the EP’s closing track. “Sunshine” has been covered time and time again, though Iero’s take on the decades-old classic is no lullaby, instead feeling like a slightly stripped-down version of what could be a bonus track from Parachutes.

Totaling just over 12 and a half minutes, Keep The Coffins Coming is a brief listen. This gives the listener just a small taste of what Iero and his band are setting out to do. Where Stomachaches was weighty, Parachutes was lighter, and Coffins– though not a cohesive or entirely satisfying release of its own right- serves as the bridge between the two. It may not be the best introduction to Iero’s music for a new listener- new fans should start with their pick of the albums- but for diehard fans, eager to hear new versions and proper releases of old rarities, it’s a welcome missing link between the two albums, sure to tide them over until there’s more.

Frank Iero and the Patience will be performing several shows around the Northeast and Midwest through the end of the year, capping things off on December 30 at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ with Thursday and PUP. See a full list of upcoming shows below and purchase tickets to all shows here.

FRANK IERO and the PATIENCE Tour Dates:

11/17 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues *
11/18 – Grand Rapids, MI @ 20 Monroe Live *
12/01 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live! *
12/28 – Huntington, NY @ The Paramount **
12/29 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium **
12/30 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom **