Driven Far Off

The latest on the indie, alternative, and rock music scene including news, music, contest, interviews, and more. Best described as your favorite place to find new bands.

The Working Title – About Face

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Artist: The Working Title
Album: About Face
Label: Universal
Purchase: Smart Punk
Release Date: July 18, 2006

Overall: 7.8
Music: 7.5
Lyrics: 8.5
Production: 9.0

The name “The Working Title” comes from the band’s wish to continue to evolve and progress as musicians. They held true to their namesake and progressed significantly from their last record. About Face is the world’s first taste of a full length Working Title album. Previously, the band had only a seven song EP entitled “Everyone Here Is Wrong” and while it was well received by critics and fans alike, it left listeners hungry for more. This time around, the band has chosen a more polished sound on their LP, and even went as far as reworking and perfecting three of the songs featured on their EP.

The best part about this record is easily the vocals as there is something incredibly emotional and touching about Joel Hamilton’s voice. He delivers honest and direct lyrics with the utmost sincerity. There are standout tracks like “Crash” which pulls you in within the first few seconds and the exceedingly emotional and epic “Turbulence” which encloses the album dramatically with the lyric “You have to be careful with my heart”?. With that being said, there are times when the record felt repetitive. There are parts on the album where some of the songs seem to drag along and blend together. By no means is About Face a bad record, but more diversity in the songs could have taken it from good to great.

Track Listing
1. About-Face
2. Nothing Less Radiant
3. P.S.
4. Glorious
5. Under the Ground
6. The Crash
7. Something She Said
8. Weigh Me Down
9. Never Run Again
10. The Mary Getaway (I Lost Everything)
11. Blind
12. There Is None
13. Enslaved
14. Turbulence

Equal Vision Signs…

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Olympia has signed with Hope Division Records, an imprint label of Equal Vision.

“From our very first conversation with Hope Division,” said vocalist Phil Williams, “we recognized that we wanted the exact same things and it just grew from there.”

Olympia consists of drummer Shane Johnson and guitarist Peter Tsouras (ex-members of Equal Vision alumni Fairweather), along with bassist Nick Barkley and former Brand New Disaster vocalist, Phil Williams.

Olympia completed their debut album last month in Boston, MA with producer Matthew Ellard (Radiohead, Queen, Weezer). “He understood the big picture of our record,” Williams said, “I think he knew the kind of sound we were looking for.” The album, entitled “Emergencies” is slated for a February 2007 release.

Download an MP3 of “Olympia Is A Motherfucker” from the upcoming album at the band MySpace page.

Look for Olympia to perform sporadically for the rest of the year, including shows with A Static Lullaby, Chiodos, and He Is Legend, then a full U.S. tour in support of “Emergencies” to follow in 2007.

OLYMPIA TOUR DATES:

10/31 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
11/10 – Harrisonburg, VA @ Captain Tee’s
11/24 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
11/25 – Wilmington, DE @ Harmony Grange Hall
11/26 – Syracuse, NY @ The Furnace
12/01 – Roseville, MI @ Myspace Internet Cafe

New Found Glory – Coming Home

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Coming Home

Artist: New Found Glory
Album: Coming Home
Label: Geffen Records
Purchase: Amazon
Release Date: September 19, 2006

Overall: 9.3
Music: 9.5
Lyrics: 9.2
Production: 9.3

As part of the old Drive-Thru roster, New Found Glory were kings among their peers. Hell, even traditional punk bands enjoyed their company as opposed to other acts of the same nature. It all seems like so long ago. Times have changed and somehow, New Found Glory, despite all their previous success, still haven’t seemed to catch on to the younger generation.With their constantly maturing sound, chances of that happening are slimming, but if we can keep getting records as good as this one, I don’t care. People still tend to write them off, though. New Found Glory are ready to prove they’re beyond “just a pop-punk” band on their newest full length, “Coming Home.”

The first and most notable change is vocalist Jordan Pundik’s vocals. Long have complaints about his voice being too nasally come from critics and fans alike, but no more. Jordan’s new style has him singing in a lower octave and taking full advantage of his new found range. To help him along, the band are playing in lower keys and it’s only helping the songs more and more.

The album plays through like a nostalgia trip while still managing to sound fresh at the same time. The mid-tempo “Oxygen” opens it all, already signaling a change in the music itself, but when “Hold My Hand” starts, shades of New Found Glory’s traditional pop-punk shine through. First single “It’s Not Your Fault” helps showcase the new maturity in the band’s songwriting abilities and even tugs at the heartstrings. Title track “Coming Home” is definitely classic New Found Glory with it’s bounce-along verses and huge chorus. The rest of the disc keeps combining everything there was to love about the band before and all of the new elements that help raise them above the crowd.

“Coming Home” is an album that I can see people over thirty listening to with no problem. It has enough to offer younger and older generations and still be able to please them. Usually, New Found Glory albums are perfect summer soundtracks, but I’m really enjoying spinning this one with the fall weather that’s rolled in. For some reason, I think this album is going to be underappreciated, so I urge everyone to take a listen and then spread the word about how awesome this record is.

Track Listing
1. Oxygen
2. Hold My Hand
3. It’s Not Your Fault
4. On My Mind
5. Coming Home
6. Make Your Move
7. Taken Back By You
8. Too Good To Be
9. Love and Pain
10. Familiar Landscapes
11. When I Die
12. Connected
13. Boulders

Albums In Stores Today

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Here are some albums in stores tomorrow.

Dead Poetic – Vices
Copeland – Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Casket Salesmen – Sleeping Giants
Deftones – Saturday Night Wrists
Scars Of Tomorrow – The Failure In Drowning
Prize Fighter Inferno – My Brother’s Blood Machine
Aiden – Rain In Hell CD/DVD
Demon Hunter – Triptych (Deluxe Edition) CD/DVD
Endwell – Homeland Insecurity
Four Letter Lie – Let Your Body Take Over
Moros Eros – I Saw The Devil Last Night And Now The Sun Shines Bright

River City High – Not Enough Saturday Nights

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River City High

Artist: River City High
Album: Not Enough Saturday Nights
Label: Takeover Records
Purchase: Download Punk
Release Date: November 14, 2006

Overall: 7.8
Music: 8.0
Lyrics: 7.0
Production: 8.7

River City High has been a band going at it for years but has never really been mainstream or hugely popular, which is funny because they have plenty of single worthy songs on the records they put out. If you have not heard of River City High then I urge you to go check out the newest release, or anything you can get a hold of.

I guess the thing with the new record “Not Enough Saturday Nights” is that it is just more material from the band not different material. That isn’t a bad thing, but the record just doesn’t really offer anything new. The songs while all slightly different, flow nicely and keep the record moving. Rarely becoming dull.

The vocals and the summer melodies are the best part of River City High by far. The scratchy vocals are very reminiscent of Rancid’s “â┚¬Ã‚¦And Out Come The Wolves” and man do I love the way the vocals sound. The melodies on most of the songs are ones that beg to be played on a summer blowing through. River City High keep the hooks coming all through out “Not Enough Saturday Night’s”. Like I said earlier if you have not heard of the band before please go check them out. The band plays some good catchy rock n roll. If you have heard of the band before and are a fan, then you should still be fan because there isn’t anything here that they probably haven’t done already.

Track Listing
1. Dogwood Queen
2. Bastard
3. Amy
4. Pass That Riff
5. Understand
6. We Want the Radio
7. Run Run Run
8. A Better Day
9. The Hard Way
10. Be There
11. This Times the Last
12. Makes No Difference

The band is streaming about 7 songs on their Purevolume Site

Purevolume