It’s the summer and there’s no better thing than to wind down the windows on a hot day and blast out some ice cool pop-punk tunes. Bands like Hit The Lights, Fall Out Boy and Cartel are perfect when the sun shines, and if you’re a fan of any of those bands you can add All Time Low to the list. Let’s get one thing straight right from the top – Hopeless Records’ new signings certainly don’t re-invent the wheel, but they write songs choc-full of hooks and melodies and in ‘Put Up or Shut Up’ have written the most promising EP since Cartel‘s debut.
Singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth has the perfect voice for pop-punk. Distinctive in its own way, he has the power to project his vocals in a melodic way, making All Time Low instantly likeable. The band mix up the tempos and the drum beats to great effect, creating a catchy stop-start rythmn effect. I guess you could say it’s a little reminiscent of The Academy Is… or Midtown, maybe even ‘So Long Astoria‘-era The Ataris.
While the band’s sound is patented by a bunch of other successful bands, pop-punk has never been a genre known for breaking boundaries. While FOB managed to take Smiths-esque lyrics and make them cool, All Time Low just write smart songs that stay in your head for ages and ages. ‘Break Out, Break Out’ and ‘The Party Scene’ are absolute gems – bouncy guitars and cool vocals beg to have you singalong.
Hopeless/Sub City have managed to kickstart the careers of Avenged Sevenfold and Thrice towards the land of major labels and I see no reason why All Time Low‘s brand of cool pop-punk will send them in the same direction. As good as Cartel‘s first EP, if they make the same amount of progress as their peers then record number two could win them a legion of new fans.
www.myspace.com/alltimelow
Hopeless Records
paul