Review Summary: no beards.
I find it difficult to give an objective point of view on local music--knowing people personally, knowing their struggles in moving their music forward, knowing the general difficulties that they face in regards to writing and recording their music--these all contribute to the difficulty that is removing the musicians from the music itself.
I have friends of friends who know these dudes, and. I say that as a disclaimer. I have written a fair amount of drafts for this review, and I am ultimately deciding on this one because it seems to contain the least bias possible. This isn’t a 5/5 album. This is only just a 4/5 album. But these dudes were in bands with a friend of my best friend, so there is definitely some bias here. And I could give them that extra 1/5 or so based solely on the background knowledge I have of them. This is where most of my reviewing problems lie.
Albums with backstory become an entirely different entity once one realizes said backstory.
Stillmatic by Nas would not have hit as hard had it not leaned so heavily on the GOAT diss track “Ether,” a track so filthy that it has become a standard term in hip-hop alongside “Stan,” indicating an overly obsessive fanboy (see: Hillary and KRS-One).
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ether --
“To burn someone. It f*cks with your souls. The sh*t that makes your soul burn slow.”
Are there equally harsh UrbanDictionary writeups for Dead Presidents II (the Jay-Z retaliation track)? Nah, didn’t think so. (I take no sides, but we all know who got ether’d here.)
But what would happen if that album hadn’t exploded solely because of this hyped up diss track? The album itself was pretty solid--definitely not anything higher than a 4/5. But the background
bias turned it into something bigger. It made it
more than an album. It became a statement. It became a staple in Nas’ career for reasons beyond just being a solid album.
While this comparison might seem like a force, it is the only real way I can try to explain my feelings of this album. The general objective quality of this album versus my personal subjective opinion are quite different. I can’t even tell if this album is terrible or not. All I know is the level of enjoyment I have gotten from this album. And that is pretty high.
I am from Boston. In roughly 2007, the shitty “happy hardcore” (blech) movement began because of some band who would play shows in churches in Worcester. 4 dudes with terrible beards playing basic catchy pop punks riffs followed by basic standard-tuning breakdowns overtook the local scene. I was in a number of bands in this scene. We did not flourish. I was too young to have a beard. We did not play in standard tuning. We also kind of sucked. But let’s brush over that last point.
Four Year Strong, whether you like them or not, influenced (way too) many bands in their beginning stages. Some for the better (Set Your Goals, I guess) and some for the worse (Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!). In the middle lay many bands that would never flourish, many bands that would never make it past “shitty ep” status. Dead End Kids is one of those bands. Bar the “shitty” part.
Dead End Kids is a pop-punk quartet with some weird (Four Year Strong-esque) influences spread about. Opener “Held Under Water” attempts to differentiate itself from the rest of the happy hardcore crew, and it actually pulls it off for a while. The dual vocals from vocalist/guitarist Stevie Fitzpatrick and guitarist/vocalist Ben Smith make for a very interesting dichotomy between the Parker Cannon-esque vocals (Smith) alongside the Ronnie Radke-esque vocals (Fitzpatrick [in a good way; no violence, drug induced rage, nor terrible musical input to be found here]).
The band’s songwriting can be quite sloppy. There is no dancing around that. At 1:25 in “Held Under Water,” there is a change in pace completely out of left field. We are thrown into some faster punk music versus the slower pop punk we were just listening to. The guitar is also ever so slightly out of tune, therefore amplifying even further the drastic change in sound. Then again at 1:59, we are met with a breakdown-esque riff sequence that definitely varies from the prior two segments of this track. Fortunately, this track is the hardest example of unfocused songwriting, and the flow of each track only gets better.
The second track, “Looking Down,” proves this. While still having a hiccup in its main transition at 1:32 (meter change, key change, general feel change overall), it still maintains a single song structure. I never doubted that these parts were not part of the same song; it just seemed like the two parts did not flow together nicely. That is the main problem I see with this band: lots of great parts, but they just cannot seem to always figure out how to loop them together. With that being said, the 7/8 part that starts at 1:32 is the clear highlight of the EP, and to be frank, I would rank it up there when thinking of my favorite riffs or "movements" of songs. I don't often try to learn songs by local(ish) bands, but that part (especially starting at 2:01) is just too damn fun to jam to.
As the album continues, it becomes quite apparent how Dead End Kids writes their songs: they start with the ending, and then they move backwards. This band flourishes on outros. This is seen equally in the first three tracks where the outros are easily the highlights of the song. They are clearly knowledgeable of the power of the fadeout, and they use that with no shame and for good reason. They perfect this natural send-off that most songs lack; this general “okay, the song is over” feel that keeps a lot of songs from actually seeming like “songs.” You need to know how to end tracks. Most people do not. Some might see the fadeout as a copout--with Dead End Kids, it certainly is not. The 7/8 outro in “Looking Down” solidifies this--they know what they are doing. They know how to switch things up. They know how to say, “formulas be damned.” Progression is a great thing. Most people do not think “pop punk” when they think “progression.” Just point them in this direction.
Unfortunately, track 4 “Set in Stone” does not exactly defy pop-punk standards. Fortunately, track 4 “Set in Stone” perfects pop-punk standards. They perfectly transition between verses, choruses, and the bridge. This is easily the most impressive vocal performance on the album--the vocals in the bridge by Fitzpatrick are some of the best on the album; the chorus vocals by Smith perfectly compliment the key change from D major to D mixolydian. It is hard to pinpoint where exactly the perfection of this track lies and where it all finally comes together, and it is also hard to pinpoint where Dead End Kids found the formula for pop-punk perfections. The hooks, the riffs, the licks, the drums....it is all perfect. This is where they thrive. This is their niche.
While I wish I could overlook it, the title track just reeks of “Escape the Fate.” While I tried to defend vocalist Stevie Fitzpatrick for his Ronnie Radke-esque vocals earlier on, they just cut through far too much in this track. It is definitely not a bad track--the group vocals that serve as the last piece of this track certainly build up some emotional swell, but overall it remains the only true dip in the generally solid consistency that is Dead End Kids’ debut (and only) EP. The vocals are still above par, but the mixture with the song itself unfortunately just takes away from the performances of all of the members.
I am glad that this EP came out. I am glad that this band came to fruition. While it certainly does suck that they no longer exist, it is nice to know that a local band is potentially able to take influence from such a cheesy band as Four Year Strong and turn it into a provocative and emotional set of songs.
The bass pops, the drums are incredibly tight and very original, the vocals are great, and the guitars work as a perfect compliment to the rest of the ensemble. This is another area where the band progresses and succeeds: the guitar work is great, but it is actually overshadowed by the bass and drums but not in a bad way. This band knows how to write the “lesser” instruments into their music. Peep the bass at 1:42 in “Looking Down;” guitar would not make that better. Sam Checkoway’s drums never fail to impress, combining incredibly tight drumming alongside actual innovative and original drum licks (which are beyond rare in pop-punk). Jake Satow’s bass playing
drives the band along while still maintaining a presence that is both original and necessary. It is hard to not come off as downplaying the guitars with this band, but that is what happens when the rhythm section is so tight. The dual guitars of Smith and Fitzpatrick work perfectly to polish off the songwriting, and the vocals are just the cherry on top. I don’t like cherries, but fuck it. For the sake of hyperbole, I like cherries. I fucking love cherries. Cherries are an aphrodisiac to me.
It's nice hearing unchained pop punk that's not afraid to write in 7/8 nor maintain overt catchiness. Happy hardcore without the breakdowns. Happy hardcore without the beards. This EP gave me hope in the local music scene. This EP made me realize that there is still talent in a scene that is overrun by copycats and metalcore wannabes.
http://goo.gl/6AG1ZF
^For the record. Heh.
