Pop punk bands news, reviews & features

Sometimes I’ll only have to listen to the first 30 seconds of an album to know I’m going to love the rest of it. Harbour’s All My Exes Are Dead To Me was one of those albums.

The Toronto pop punk outfit has put together a four-track EP bursting at the seams with hooks, riffs and those oh-so-bitter lyrics and themes we all love so much, whether we care to admit it or not.

All My Exes Are Dead To Me is written and arranged with a maturity you wouldn’t necessarily expect, given its title.

Opener, In Her Words is a high energy, interesting and well-written introduction to the band, its themes and sound. Both here and in other parts of the EP I’m reminded of my first listen to Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave.

Great harmonies in both vocals and guitars complement well-crafted hooks.

Track two Everything That I’m Not has one of the best chorus hooks I’ve heard while reviewing unsigned pop punk bands. Imagine an RX Bandits melody over Fall Out Boy guitars being sung by The Used’s singer.

I found this track stuck in my head long before I learned to words to be able properly sing it.

The eponymous track All My Exes Are Dead To Me has a hell of a hook, even if some may find its chorus’ lyrics cliched. Whatever, I like it.

Closer Better Days has, for my money, the perfect bass sound. The verse’s baseline is hella cool. There are shades of the Madden Brothers’ vocals in the bridge, replete with delay effect.

A great chorus, a break down which isn’t just there for the sake of it and a catchy-as-hell refrain combine to make another decent track.

All in all, I’m left wanting to hear more. I’m most hooked by Harbour’s faster tracks, but when their slower verses feature that bass tone, I’m not complaining.

I feel like I get over excited about unsigned pop punk bands sometimes, and that it lessens the impact when I say something like this…

Harbour need to be on your radar, and a label should snatch these guys up fast.

File this one under ‘slipped under the radar’, as this review of Better Left Alone’s ‘Vegas Rules’ comes nine months after its release last summer. The five-track EP develops, hones and refines the band’s sound while throwing in a few new tricks for good measure.

The Prestonian five-piece, for me, fall almost exactly between the glossy sheen of the now defunct Every Avenue and the UK’s own You Me At Six. Indeed, BLA’s vocalist’s voice and style is almost interchangeable with Every Avenue’s David Ryan Strauchman.

Given that the band hails from one of the coldest corners of Lancashire (I know, I’ve lived there) – their material has a seemingly Californian, sun-kissed feel, which is no bad thing, and might be something that the UK scene would be otherwise missing.

Vegas Rules kicks off with Chinese Whispers, after a fairly routine into – the band’s vocalist quickly takes the opportunity to show off his pipes. Production values are great, lyrics are pretty raw and leave little to the imagination.

Echoes again starts with a fairly unassuming intro and gives way to a verse with a nice melody and rhythm. Credit must go to the band’s drummer for adding flourish to a largely straight-forward song. A well-placed guitar solo also adds some extra colour to the track.

Going For The Oscar is particularly reminiscent of the likes of Cartel and Every Avenue, and that’s a good thing.

A cool riff starts and carries Ambition (a vision)  and we get yet more outstanding vocals. What the band’s lyrics sometimes lack in subtlety, they make up for in passion, evident here in spades.

Closer In The Crowd had an interesting arrangement, but I can’t help but think it would work better as the first track on the final third of a full length release.

All told, Vegas Rules is impressive. Soaring vocals, solid production values and a well developed sound combine to add something different and special to the UK scene.