I Call Fives - Bad Advice EP
Release Date: May 25, 2010
Record Label: No Sleep Records
It’s a downright crime how some music doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Even on this website, where we strive to cover the best and biggest of new releases, there is occasionally a worthwhile one that falls through the cracks. While it’s bound to happen and is darn near unavoidable, that doesn’t make it any less of a complete bummer that the release in question didn’t get the review it deserved.
At this particular juncture, the release in question is I Call Fives’ Bad Advice EP. This six song effort is not only one of the better EPs put out in 2010, but it has cemented I Call Fives as one of a growing group of current pop punk acts that are making moves in the new decade. I Call Fives are doing it themselves, constantly touring and consistently forwarding their name and making themselves a bigger part of this scene that we’re all in together.
What makes the EP so worthy of note? Well the easiest answer is the purely explosive and upbeat nature of I Call Fives’ sound. Jeff Todd’s vocals are some of the most enjoyable you’ll hear from this genre in 2010, right up there with Matty Arsenault’s work with A Loss for Words. The guitar work offered up by Mike Gavarone and Ant Plata, while not breaking any boundaries, is hook-laden and all that a listener should desire in a release like this.
Bad Advice begins with its best two songs, “Hand Me Down Luck” and “Elevator Music”. The former serves as a swell opener while the latter is dangerously infectious and ranks among the better sing-alongs this year. It has climbed to the northern regions of my iTunes play count as a song that people will return to even after years have passed.
“Try Hard to Remember” is highlighted by Todd’s work in the chorus, where he belts out “So try hard to remember / All the people you once called friends / And you'll find me waiting with a smile once a part of me / Will you miss me when I swear that I'm gone?” Meanwhile, “Easy to Say States Away” and “Two Days or A Lifetime of Failure” shine with glistening guitar hooks and solid rhythm provided by Steve Cohen behind the kit and Drew Conte on bass.
“Take the Fall” proves to be the album’s low point as it is all too predictable of a closer. Starting acoustic and ending in a built-up crescendo, it’s a song that has been done again and again but in this case isn’t executed well enough to stand out. This is an outlier on the album, though, as the preceding five songs are chock full of pop punk goodness.
You can add I Call Fives to whatever running list you’re keeping of bands to watch out for in the next year. After relentless touring across America, the band is heading out to the UK soon and presumably will have another release out in 2011. They are also another notable notch on the ever-impressive roster that Chris Hanson has built at No Sleep Records. If you haven’t heard this release yet, don’t miss out on it like we almost did; it is one that begs your attention.
um... i dont remember... i guess ill listen to it again but i do remember the "i hope this song is the elevator music on your way to hell" or something
Awesome EP from a hard working band. I also like the fact at least one of the members posts on this site quite frequently. I don't know I like to see that kind of effort.
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