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FIVES: THE BEST WONDER YEARS SONGSThis week Lansdale, Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years released their fourth album - ‘The Greatest Generation,’ a record that sees the pop punk quintet reach their creative peak in a number of ways. With a wealth of material in their discography, Already Heard's Sean Reid and Tom Knott took on the tricky task of picking out the five best songs from The Wonder Years. Find out what we picked and let us know if you agree or disagree?
INTERVIEW: MALLORY KNOXFollowing the release of their superb 'Signals' album, Mallory Knox have certainly become ones to watch in recent months. We caught up with the band to discuss joining Search & Destroy Records, how vital the festival season and touring are, what it feels like to be a part
of the expanding British rock scene and much more.
ALREADY HEARD RECOMMENDS: OVER THE OCEANOver The Ocean have crafted a compelling, brooding record with their latest effort ‘Be Given To The Soil.’ With intense specific precision and delicate accuracy that echoes the likes of Explosions In The Sky and Sigur Ros. Jesse Hill from the band to discusses how the
album came together, the importance of precision, being compared to post-rock pioneers and more.
VERSUS: BRING ME THE HORIZON - 'THERE IS A HELL...' VS 'SEMPITERNAL'After a top ten UK album and an outstanding UK tour with festival dates on both sides of the Atlantic to follow, Bring Me The Horizon are having a fantastic 2013 and are now featured in the latest edition of "Versus." It's ‘There is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There is a Heaven, Let’s Keep it a Secret’ vs the bands latest release, 'Sempiternal.'
ALREADY HEARD TRACK GUIDE: ALEXANDER - SAY HELLOWe catch up with Newcastle Indie Rock quartet Alexander to find out more about their debut album 'Say Hello' for a “Already Heard Track Guide” feature.
INTERVIEW: TITLE FIGHTHaving briefly returned to the UK for the Hit The Deck Festival before starting a European
tour, we caught up with vocalist/bassist Ned Russin to discuss the bands progression in sound, differences between UK and US festivals, their recent split with Touché Amoré,
having friends on tour and more.
Album Review: Direct Hit! & The Haverchucks - Split 7”
I love straight up punk rock, the type which is upbeat, simple and fun. This is a great split release with each band contributing two relatively short but good tracks. Direct Hit! remind me ever so slightly of NOFX with their seemingly fun attitude to writing music and jokey lyrics. Their first track (‘Fallout Shelter Television’) clocks in at just under a minute and a half, and it is just a simple punk rock song but its catchy and fun.
‘Operation’ gives a better outlook of this band. The uplifting guitar riff and brilliant driving bass line compliments the catchy call and response verses, are a typical sound of this genre but it doesn’t get old. You cannot help but bop your head along to this track; although the thought of comparing someone to a tumour who needs removing may be a bit of a choice metaphor; it seemingly works and should be taken lightly.
The Haverchucks side of the split provides a similar sound of punk rock to their counterparts; With one difference being the lyrical content, they’re sound instrumentally however is almost identical. Surprisingly it doesn’t make the release monotonous; on the contrary, it is a perfect coupling for a split release.
Their final track ‘(The Girl Gave Me) The Runaround’ is a familiar sound of early era Blink-182. The duel vocals, simplistic but catchy rhythm section and the obvious topic of the opposite sex it is nothing new but it is done well, you would have to hate the bands mentioned and the genre itself to not enjoy these tracks.
This whole release is just over 10 minutes long, but within that short amount of time you are given 4 upbeat punk tracks that even though they are similar in sounds, the two bands go hand in hand and it is a perfect match.
4/5
‘Split 7”’ by Direct Hit! and The Haverchucks is available now on Kind of Like Records/Bright & Barrow Records.
Direct Hit! links: Facebook|Bandcamp
The Haverchucks links: Facebook|Bandcamp
Words by Robert Maddison (@BertMaddison)
