Previewing the "Lucky 13th"
By WILL SPITZ | August 7, 2007
Gallows |
Although it’s great to see a slew of local bands repping the Bean on this year’s “Lucky 13th” Warped Tour — Killswitch Engage, the Unseen, Big D and the Kids Table, Boys Like Girls — I almost fell asleep looking at the lineup (Bad Religion and New Found Glory again? Really?). To be fair, I’m a bit out of touch with the up-and-coming crop of Warped-type bands, so I decided to check out some of those rolling into the Tweeter Center with the tour on Thursday, August 9 that I hadn’t heard. Here’s what MySpace had for me.
Gallows, “Orchestra of Wolves”
UK’s Gallows name check the right influences on their MySpace page — Minor Threat, Refused, Drive like Jehu, etc. — and this song, with its barbed-wire verse riff and bloody-murder vocals, sounds something like Converge watered down with a shot of Hot Snakes. This is not a bad thing.
The Fabulous Rudies, “99 Luftballons”
You’ve got to be kidding me. Does the world really need another shitty ska-punk version of this song? Absolutely not. Next!
Biffy Clyro, “Folding Stars”
Almost as bad as this Glasgow band’s name, the radio-ready single from their new Puzzle, due in September on Roadrunner, is so bland that it hardly registers. Imagine Coldplay or the Foo Fighters at their absolute wussiest and drained of every ounce of songwriting talent that either might have. Yuck.
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, “Dry the River”
By all accounts I should hate this song — a steroid-pumped amalgamation of southern riff rock and polished pop-punk (barf). But there’s a small melodic bit in the chorus — “ ’Cause I’m told the river went dryyyyy” — that somehow redeems the whole thing. Worth checking out.
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