Before I’d even heard this record the buzz around The Hitchers had reached fever pitch. A few people were telling me I needed to check them out and then Mike at the label suggested this band would be ‘the next best thing’, but then label owners always say that! Regardless, the signs seemed good – coming from the same stable as Caught In The Headlights and My Favourite Co-Pilot, The Hitchers certainly have expectations to live up to with their peers. I paid so much attention to that fact that I was pretty shocked when I heard ‘Unspoken Truths’ – I actually stopped the cd half way through the first song to make sure this wasn’t a new Green Day album. Three songs in and you know it’s not mind, the songs aren’t that good, but blow me down if the singer doesn’t think he’s Billie Joe…
Either way The Hitchers fail to set the world alight with this record. They do in places, but at 15 songs and 53 minutes in length this album is far too long, dragging it’s feet half way through and with so many songs it highlights the crap ones. Ten would have been better and would have given it a higher score. So yeah, The Hitchers, a trio who play a kind of Green Day pop-punk that sounds fresh out of Berkeley but is actually homegrown – think Captain Everything! without the clever lyrics. The main problem is while The Hitchers have a clear knack for writing hook-filled pop-punk songs they don’t do it consistently. The riffs are the same old recycled ones heard a million times before and it’s often left to the chorus to bail out an average song. ‘No Kisses For A Broken Face’ rams the point home, a song which is anything but inspiring but has a chorus which will have your foot tapping, while ‘What The Hey’ featured on ‘Dookie’…oh no, wait, this isn’t Green Day is it?
‘Missy Girl’ comes off like early Route 215 or Whitmore, complete with ska riffs and speeded up vocals (and piss-poor lyrics – “I’ll never score with Missy Girl” they claim…is it not obvious why?!) but ‘Hold Up’ at least brings home the fact that The Hitchers were signed for a reason. ‘Wrong In The Head’ again comes across like Route 215 in the days of yore, ‘Collar Up In Camden Town‘ should have been left on the cutting room floor (the “doo-waps” sound hideous), ‘Emmy’ sounds cumbersome and ‘Geeze Louise’ is abysmal. At least ‘Unity’ is a good end, even if Billie Joe rears his head again.
This would have been so much better if the dross tracks were cut, it’s too long and devoid of its own ideas and this holds things up. Too many tracks leave you reaching for the skip button and it doesn’t inspire me to want to check them out further. Still, they’ll probably end up selling millions and show me up – wouldn’t be the first time…
www.thehitchers.com
Toddler Records
Paul