Here’s the story so far – The Headstart hail from Wakefield and after recording their first single the band managed to get their tune on a surfing video featuring Kelly Slater. That brought them enough attention to enter The Big Reunion Festival 2008 which scored the band a £1,000 prize and support slots with bands such as The Enemy & The Holloways. For a pretty young outfit, The Headstart have made a massive impact in such a short space of time.
This EP is the band’s first and it’s very Americanised pop-punk. It’s not amazing, but it’s very solid. If you like All Time Low then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t like The Headstart as there’s little difference in style and song quality; the only difference is in the quality of production. The 4 songs here are all catchy, if a little generic, but they tick every box in a genre that’s heavily saturated. The riffs are a little Blink 182-esque at times – ‘Trying To Write An Anthem’ sounds very Blink – so everything really does sound a bit familiar, but to be honest it’s done to a decent standard and as someone who likes bands that openly rip off others, I shouldn’t be one to complain.
The Headstart are decent. They’re not going to break new boundaries, but they do what they do with bounce and verve and they’re are a lot worse bands out there. Check them out if you like perky pop-punk and fancy a homegrown band to listen to.