It’s official, Drive Thru is now entirely reaching hotsteppers. For those of you unfamiliar with that particular bit of terminology, a hotstepper is a terminally blond “teen spirit†trendsetter with absolutely no internal volume control. The emptier of shelves, the raiser of concert overhead. You know, those obnoxious brats that wave daddy’s plastic and fill up the venues before we can even empty the life savings from our pockets. They scatter from the club halfway through the set after they heard the one song they know, complaining in high-pitched shrieks about the how loud the band was. Bitter? Me? Yeah, just a bit. For some reason, I tend to get really ticked when bands to which I enjoy listening are mass marketed to the fluff-embracing demographic. After reviewing the background on these guys, I can’t help but be impressed by the raw, if somewhat unrefined, enthusiasm with which they approach every (and I mean every) aspect of being musicians. It’s just disheartening to realize how quickly the music will be gobbled up by thousands of foul-smelling ‘tween juggernauts (some of those ‘little girls’ are huge; I got trampled by one at my last Warped Tour) and fake baked waifs.
hellogoodbye is a damn fine pop punk band. The tracks that I’ve had the pleasure to listen to from this digital EP are exceptional, incorporating many “now†sound effects… synths galore! Lyrically, they’re slightly above average. I emphasize slightly. Instrumentally, the sound is very full, containing huge amounts of really diverse electronically generated back beats, poppy keyboard choruses and nicely grinding guitars. Bands that obviously enjoy making the music they play are few and far between these days. Because most of our best boys and girls seem to be depressed recently, listening to the completely intentional immaturity of hellogoodbye makes me a little nostalgic for the good old days of Wheatus. Granted, they sucked it up on a lot of songs, but it was fun to listen. This EP is a little less idiotic, but equally fun.
Not that this is anything new. The Eighties flashback synth obsession was initiated in the States by The All American Rejects. hellogoodbye is simply doing a better job of emphasizing the vast capabilities of their Casio keyboard. And yes, that was a deliberate jibe. Very juvenile with hooks the size of New England. I’m about as excited for this release as I was for the season one distribution of BtVS. And that’s EXCITED, folks. Unfortunately, you can’t really quantify video with audio, so how about… this EP makes me remember the stomach-fluttering excitement of anticipating ‘Sticks and Stones’. If you didn’t immediately realize that I was referring to the last NFG album, stop reading right here. This band is not for you. They’re fresh, only slightly predictable and, ultimately, they’re sound is only slightly *shudder* cute.
‘Shimmy shimmy quarter turn’ is fast and melodic, with a healthy helping of rough guitar/bass. This is probably the most addicting of the tracks, it just sounds fun. Who doesn’t love a song that closes with a voice clip from Mortal Kombat? The synths in ‘Call ‘N Return (Say That Your Into Me)’ seem to be overtaxed. The overall sound is rather hollow and the lyrics are almost sub par, but it all manages to muddle through to become a fairly decent song, although probably the weakest of the five. ‘Bonnie Taylor Shakedown’ is much of the same synthesized fun with slightly more guitar and bass work. Then out of nowhere, ‘Jesse Buy Nothing… Go To Prom Anyway’ slams into your headphones. A total screamfest, the faked Russian accent from the lead vocalist on this song is hilarious. Absurdity in diversity. The final track, ‘To Jaime… Sincerely Me’, is the most promising, integrating all of the instruments to make an extravagantly melodic score. The only complaint on this one is that they try a little too hard for the rhyme. Not stellar, but promising nonetheless.
Drive Thru is ultimately so successful with their signing choices. And while that’s what we wish for them since without this particular label we would be bereft of some of the finest music I’ve heard in recent times, the true fans wind up getting screwed in the end. There are specific reasons that I abhor mainstream; these songs are just poppy enough, just catchy enough, to get sucked into repetitive airtime. Not to offend anyone, but popular radio will be the death of punk if all of the best bands keep getting sucked into commercialization. The big bands, the monsters are slowly loosing their following as the hotsteppers of the world crowd us out of line, clawing and kicking they’re way through the rest of us with manicured talons and designer steel toed boots. Consider yourself forewarned. We’re about to be victimized.
Download this EP from http://www.drivethrurecords.com/hellogoodbyeep/
www.hellogoodbye.net
Released on Drive Thru Records
Nicole