Skip School, Start Fights,
Hit The Lights
About two years ago Hit The Lights were the next big thing. You see the plaudits All Time Low are getting now? Well that was the crown HTL were about to to steal. With a truckload of catchy songs, nay, anthems, begging to be sung along to, the band literally had the world at their feet. And then the bombshell - vocalist Colin Ross, the man that gave the band their edge, announced he was leaving the band.
Just as Hit The Lights had worked their way up to pop-punk royalty, it was all cruelly taken away.
The next year saw the band disappear off the radar. They stopped touring and although they kept fans informed via myspace and other social networking sites, their search for a singer seemed to hit brick wall after brick wall. That was until guitarist Nick Thompson stepped up to the plate and announced he was handling frontman duties.Then came the annoucement a new album was done - and 'Drop The Girl' was released. The band were back.
And so here we are with 'Skip School, Start Fights', ironically a record that sounds more like All Time Low than Hit The Lights' first album did. It's still catchy, but in a more poppy way than the first album. The egde of some of the more frenetic guitars seems to have been blunted and there's a smoother side to the band. While some of the tracks here are frighteningly good (see 'Stay Out' and the Fastlane-esque 'Hangs Em High') there are a couple of real filler songs here which let the side down ('Tell Me Where You Are'). That's not to say this record is a bad one, because it's not. It's just not as consistent as it's predecessor.
'Skip School, Start Fights' is a good fun listen. It won't break new ground and I don't think HTL will be propelled to the level they were at previously, but this ticks all the right pop-punk boxes and leaves us with a late-summer release that will brighten up even the gloomiest English summer's day. If you like pop-punk, check this out.
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