I’m a sucker for bands like The High Court. It’s like heroin addiction. I know it’s wrong, and sometimes I really don’t want to do it, yet every single hit is a highly satisfying dose that can brighten up any mood. Infact the two are almost identical, except I don’t feel the need to mug an old lady of her pension to fund my pop-punk addiction. But you know how it is – it’s just not cool anymore to like the bands that make you sing and dance – at the same time – like a loon. Ever since Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco took off, that music is meant for the kids and no-one else. Certainly a 27-year-old like myself shouldn’t be associated with the child’s music. Oh well.
The High Court serve up their own brand of justice on ‘Puppet Strings’ and, as I Surrender’s latest signings, I think they will easily follow in the footsteps of their labelmates Valencia, who are only a second album away from cementing their place in the pop-punk hall of fame. THC are a little darker and a little more subtle, yet still write songs with choruses the size of a whale. My girlfriend tells me they sound like ‘all those other bands you listen to’, but what the hell would she know? Hell, she’s right. Never change a winning formula, that’s what I say.
Vocalist John Brown has the vocal swagger of a cocksure singer that knows he’s on the right lines, making the band standout from the legion of pop-punk clones. Ask any comedian, it’s all in the delivery. And Brown knows how to deliver a knockout punchline. Combine the fact the vocals are fantastic with the knack to write a tune and The High Court will find themselves weasling their way onto your guilty pleasure playlist. They usher in songs, courting your attention. Too many courtroom puns? Just suck it up and swoon at the likes of ‘Like A Ghost’, ‘In Bambi’s Eyes‘ and ‘Alien’, which demand to be on the next mixtape (or mix CD you new-fangled technological types) you make.
The High Court may not be groundbreaking and they may not be essential listening, but if you’re looking for the soundtrack to your summer you may find it here.