Describing themselves as “Melodic Pop Punk” you can hear straight away what Something Similar are trying to achieve. And that something is to probably be the next Blink182. No mean feat, and Bristol isn’t the kind of place I would associate that US Sunshine feeling to, but all is fair in love and 3-Chord Pop-Punk.
The 3 tracks on offer on this EP have obviously been recorded on a tight budget. Either that or Something Similar have more money than sense. There is plenty of background fuzz, the snare drum sounds like an ice cream tub with a sheet of A4 paper sticky-taped across the top, and the guitar lacks any power whatsoever. Not a pleasant sound, but you get the idea of what Something Similar are working with.
It’s not all bad however. The singing, while strained, has vocal lines that don’t necessarily follow the guitar melodies, and the actual guitar playing is adequate. It’s not shredding or widdling, or crunching, but for the bad production, you can detect what Something Similar are trying to achieve.
While not being technically proficient (more sections out of time than I have got digits on my hands), Something similar are trying. They’re not blink 182, in fact, they’re not really much in the way of entertainment at all. But they’ve got good footing to release something promising in a few years maybe, as long as they practice and gain more confident. This is not a good EP by any means, but as long as they keep trying, they might get there.
Lurch