Carry The Banner – ‘I’m No Hero, I’m Just Bad With Matches’

The last six months have been great for pop-punk with the likes of State Champs, Seaway, and City Lights really flying the flag for the scene. The genre thrives on big hooks, catchy choruses, and accessible vocals and it’s those qualities which Carry The Banner, show in abundance. ‘I’m No Hero, I’m Just Bad With Matches’ is their self-released debut six track EP ‘4th and 29’ opens with a seventy second instrumental that builds up the excitement and
sets the scene well. Front man Thomas Takach sings ‘Give me a second just to get my thoughts together’ and then unleashes a quick and technical track with quite hard hitting lyrics.

The recurring themes of broken friendships and regret are evident throughout this release and that’s certainly the case with ‘Story Straight’ too. Both tracks are led by some perfectly executed pop-punk guitar riffs – short and sweet in nature, though lacking a unique touch if we were being critical. From there you have ‘Memory’ with its bouncy verses and obvious nod to the John Denver classic as Tom sings “I’m leaving on a jet plane” in the track’s anthemic chorus. It works well and raises a big smile, which is exactly what you want with a pop-punk track.

The EP closes with ‘Progress’ (ft. Mike Forbes from neighboring band Like You To Me) and again we hear that harder edge to the lyrics yet combined with a much more playful tune and fairly positive vibe. This is an approach we’ve seen work well with bands such as Hit The Lights and you can draw heavy comparisons with them throughout.Get a head start on one of the emerging talents this year and give Carry The Banner a shot. ‘I’m No Hero, I’m Just Bad With Matches’ is a solid debut release and is available on a pay what you want basis from the band’s bandcamp now.

TOM BECK