ROCK KILLS KID
"Rock
Kills Kid" (Fearless Records; 2003)
Reviewed by Christopher J. Kelter
I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I put Rock Kill Kid’s six-track self-titled debut in the CD player. I'll admit that the silvery sheen of the digipak had me worried right from the start. A number of bands have used similar packaging in recent years and I’ve disliked them all.
For a second, right before the disc started, I prepared myself for below average pop-punk. God knows there are enough pop-punk bands now – and some would say that the genre is already cannibalizing itself. Suffice to say I was pleasantly surprised to hear Rock Kills Kid was not pop-punk, but rather a hybrid of pop-punk along with emo and melodic rock. Finally, a band that has the guts to move away from the glut of bands and do something interesting with it.
It didn’t take more than sixty-seconds to realize that Rock Kills Kid is part of the new wave of bands that rely on classic pop song structures with a strong sense of melody and storytelling. Now it goes without saying that Rock Kills Kid is not the style of music that I actively seek to listen to. But I’ll be damned if I wasn’t captivated by the band's killer vocal hooks and well constructed tunes from the start.
My immediate impression of Rock Kills Kid was the sound of King's X and Green Day all blended together without sounding the least bit like those bands or the genres they’ve spearheaded all these many years. I also hear a bit of The Cure lurking in Rock Kills Kid's musical heritage, which as luck would have it, is someone the band cites as an influence. In fact, the band has described their music as a cross between The Cure and Bad Religion. However, that description did as little for me as my King's X/Green Day description in the first sentence of this paragraph probably did for you.
The songs go back and forth between the yin and yang of hope and despair. It's strange when a song is somehow uplifting and depressing at the same time – Rock Kills Kid manages to strike both of those emotions without sounding trite or hollow.
It's safe to say that after listening to this EP that I've got a pretty good feeling Rock Kills Kid will be in the music business for many years to come.
"Rock Kills Kid" was produced by Loren Israel and Cameron Webb.
Rock Kills Kid is Jeff Tucker on vocals and guitar, Devin Kelly on guitars and backing vocals, Kirk Huffman on bass and backing vocals, and Chris Poulson on drums and backing vocals.
For more information visit http://www.rockkillskid.com.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the
cover makes you wanna hurl.
Back to RoughEdge.com home page
Copyright © 2003 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights
reserved.
Revised: 22 Jul 2024 12:30:29 -0400.
