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After countless nights
of little sleep and constant analysis, I have come to only one rational
conclusion about today’s punk scene. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but
I have decided that there must be something in the water of San
Diego, California that causes awesome punk-powered rockers to catapult their
way into the spotlight. Don’t believe me? Well, if you’re
skeptical, research a bit on bands like Blink-182, Unwritten Law, or Nothing
to Lose. They all hail from this city of catchy hooks and intricate
power chords.
One of the summer’s latest pop-punk albums comes from a
band named Off By One, who also are (yes, you guessed it) San Diego natives.
With a very talented Mark Gould (Guitar/Lead Vocals) as their frontman, Jon
Bishop on lead guitar, Jordan Brownwood on bass, and Trevor Easter on drums,
one will learn very quickly that this band has a lot to offer, especially in
putting together a great show. I recently had the opportunity to see
this band play live in Virginia Beach, VA on the Warped Tour, and I was so
impressed by not only the band’s performance, but just the guys themselves.
They all seemed very genuine, and you could tell they were all about having
a good time. The crowd was happy, rocking out to what turned out to be
a hugely successful set.
Their self-titled debut, which just came out August 6,
2002, is quite possibly one of my favorites this summer. Tracks like
“On My Way,” “Been Alone,” and “Déjà vu” all are instantly worthy of humming
at work and in the car. In “Déjà vu,” (a song that also has a
promotional video) my favorite element is how the song goes from steady rock
into a scattered rap solo where Mark just lets loose on the microphone.
We all know rap/rock is not a new concept, but the way the band put this
track together is pretty ingenious. Besides having great melodies,
catchy guitar riffs, and awesome drumming, Off By One’s self-titled album
also presents the listener with a new and re-vamped punk version of “Torn,”
a huge radio hit by Natalie Imbruglia back in 1998.
Mark Gould has said, “My parents had me playing music
by age three.” Well, this helps explain why Off By One succeeded in
creating a great debut record that hits stores just in time for all that
back to school…studying. Off By One is finishing up Warped Tour this
year on the Drive-Thru Records stage with their fellow punk friends.
If you have the chance, check them out!
-John
Murnane
Links:
www.offbyoneonline.com
www.lmcrecords.com |
Our Lady Peace, already a rock juggernaut in the
snowy white plains of Canada, entered the studio last year to
record their fifth album with über-producer Bob Rock. The
resulting product, Gravity, is a big step toward bringing
OLP closer to mainstream America without cannibalizing the band or
alienating their core fans.
The album opens with the stutter-beat “All For You,” a
rocker driven by Steve Mazur’s adept guitar skills and Raine
Maida’s distinctive vocals, ranging from growls to gravelly-voiced
yelps. It then moves on to what seems to be the benchmark of
the new OLP, “Do You Like It.” It’s a mid-tempo song that
fuses rock and melody, two things that the band has been good at
creating separately, but has yet been able to capture together on
a consistent basis. “Innocent,” the band’s latest single,
takes this formula and runs with it, expanding on the idea and
also adding a chant-along chorus about the days before Maida slept
on a mattress stuffed with cash every night. The
radio-friendly ‘”Somewhere Out There,” infused with strings and
longing vocals by Maida, is the requisite female-demographic money
draw that seems to be present on most big label rock releases
nowadays.
While the album is great for the most part, the only
miscue is “Sell My Soul,” which sounds like a band trying too hard
to be important. The song winds up sounding like a bad OLP
cover band drowsily wandering through the middle of a set list.
The band ends the album on a strong note, though, with “A Story
About A Girl,” a song pushed along by drummer Jeremy Taggart’s
adequate skills and then lifted by Mazur’s guitar work in the
chorus.
It’s obvious that Bob Rock’s board work here has helped
shape the band’s work into a more cohesive creature, guiding them
toward some of their most catchy music. Our Lady Peace is a
band that has the skills, work ethic, and desire to be huge in the
states, if only middle America would accept them. With
Gravity, they just might have created the album that allows
them to do that. -Matthew
Little
Links:
www.ourladypeace.com
www.columbiarecords.com |
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