Drive Thru UK Invasion Tour 2004, Various Artists
Drive Thru: Two words that can conjure up a range of emotions for the punk rock community. In most cases people either love or hate Drive Thru records; there seems to be no middle ground. However, despite what you may think of the label there can be no doubting it’s enormous success over the last few years. Drive Thru bands now appear to be a genre apart from the rest, and many of the label’s bigger stars have gone on to achieve major mainstream success. Now the label has launched an invasion of the UK and, unlike the Vikings and the Normans attempts, we haven’t even put up a fight! Over the last week the Drive Thru invasion tour has been playing around the UK, and this little compilation has been released to coincide with that event.
What we have here is essentially a 7 inch single featuring the four acts from the tour. For fans the nice presentation, and the shiny yellow vinyl, could make this a must have item. Each of the four bands gets a song each, with two songs on each side of the single. Side A sees the pop-punk that the label is famed for in all its (new found) glory. First up are Homegrown, a band that have never really impressed me. ‘I Love You, Not’ sees the band in very generic form and warbling something about not wanting to commit. To be honest Busted do this better. However, at least Allister, generic as they may be, have a spark that makes people interested in them. They do play pop-punk by numbers, but there’s an irresistible charm to the band that keeps you listening. Side AA sees the pop-punk plus a bit more brigade, more Finch than Midtown. The Early November take the honours on this side, with a track that is far superior to Hidden in Plain View’s ‘Shamens, Witches, Magic’
So do you want to buy this? You should already know the answer to that. For Drive Thru fans this is a nicely presented package that features music you love. For non-fans this will be more use as a Frisbee. Anyway, time for me to get off the fence, I feel a splinter…
Mark
