Over the past five or six years, a number of great punk bands that had been on hiatus have returned to the scene, one of them being the Phoenix based punk rock group, Numbers On Napkins. NON returned from a five year hiatus in 2018, and released a full length album, “From Buckeye To Beardsley” in 2019. Now NON has released a special deluxe edition re-issue of their debut full length album, “Waiting for Tomorrow”. This deluxe edition re-issue commemorates the fifteenth anniversary of the original release date of “Waiting for Tomorrow”.

The deluxe edition of “Waiting for Tomorrow” features the entire album, plus the deluxe edition contains a variety of bonus tracks, ranging from demo recordings, to live songs, as well as unreleased material. It’s a must have for any hardcore NON fans.
“Waiting for Tomorrow - The Deluxe Edition”, includes the bands very popular single that launched them into the scene, “Runaway”. “Runaway” has a strong melodic pop punk tone with an almost commercial feel to it, and reminds me of Blink 182 in the earlier days of the band. The song was a hit back in 2005, and was frequently played on various station during the summer. Other popular songs from the album included the offensive and vulgar, “True Love”, as well as the poppy and melodic, “Broken”. NON chose to include the demo recordings of all three of these tracks, which was a real treat to hear how the songs changed in such a slight way before landing on the final studio version of “Waiting for Tomorrow”.

NON also included live tracks on the deluxe edition, including two different live versions of the bands popular single, “Ode to the Drink”, which was originally released on the bands second full length album, “Borrachos, Chingasos, Y Rucas”. One of the live versions of the song was recorded from a performance at The Clubhouse Music Venue in Tempe, Arizona, and features a raw, Irish Punk style that is similar to Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphy’s, or the Street Dogs. The second version of the song was recorded live during an interview and on-air performance at Arizona State University’s, “The Blaze” radio station. The second version of “Ode to the Drink” is more like the original version of the song, and is performed acoustically, with a more traditional Irish folk style. In fact, drummer, Tad Gurthman, even plays the Bodhran on the track, which is a traditional irish drum made of sheep skin.

The original release of “Waiting for Tomorrow” was a solid album, and is responsible for helping NON’s career take off. The album generated several popular songs that became fan favorites, and helped the band gain a solid fanbase, and gave them the opportunity to perform with various national bands across the U.S. This special deluxe edition delivers everything that the original had, but includes several amazing bonus tracks that NON fans are going to find amazing! If the album was just “Waiting for Tomorrow”, I would give the band an “A”, but I consider the bonus tracks as extra credit, knocking the bands score to an “A+”!