A comment in the Punktastic forums the other day made me laugh. When discussing Victory’s latest signings, one reader piped up: “It’s known in ‘the industry’ as “throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks”. It made me laugh, and as soon as I started listening to Down To Earth Approach I realised the phrase could also be applied to this band. They’re not on Victory mind you – they actually call Vagrant home – but this is the kind of record that any label could safely stick out, do minimal promotion and just see what happens. The main word in that sentence is ‘safe’ – because this record is about as clean cut as a choirboy. The production is immaculate, the songs well structured and the melodies are present and correct. But in being so predictable and generic, Down To Earth Approach come across as boring.
The real issue here is that DTEA are another band you’ve heard before. There are borrowings to The Get Up Kids and Saves The Day and the nasal whine and borrowed punky riffs add to the deja-vu you’ll get when you listen to ‘Another Intervention’. It’s not that this record is particularly bad, it’s just not particularly good either. The now-standard hooks and big choruses are here, but then for this type of music you’re not going to get very far without them. But for me there’s a lack of an ‘x’-factor which should probably place these guys higher up the punk rock league. The Get Up Kids are geniuses, Down To earth Approach are not. And that’s just one difference between being at the top of your genre and just another band in the chasing pack.
Opening tracks ‘Exhibit of the Year’ and ‘Triple Black’ are arguably the standouts, but from here on in the songs appear to blend into one another. If you’re not fully concentrating on this album it can lead you down the merry path of day-dreaming as there is nothing to grab you buy the short and curlies. It’s great background music, but I prefer a little more substance. Before this release DTEA were pretty much unknowns, so it’s not too much of a gamble for Vagrant to take. But after listening to this over the last week, the ‘shit’ comment still remains prevalent in my thoughts…
www.vagrant.com
Paul