Talk about coming out of left field. Members of some of indie-darlings The Velvet Teen and Benton Falls have gotten together to tell the scene "fuck you" and boy is it exciting. Josh Staples (The Velvet Teen) takes the spotlight as the singer and bassist while Michael Richardson plays lead guitar. Joining them is Sara Sanger, wife of Josh, on second guitar and Julia Lancer on the drums. What this band lacks in talent (I'm looking at you Julia) it makes up in attitude. Tackling issues from Jesus, the War on Iraq, to getting lead on, they tear through 8 rather short songs in under 20 minutes.
"This Invitation Has Meant the World To Me" starts of this record with an upbeat feel that gets you going right away. You'll notice that Josh's vocals do resemble Judah Nagler's of The Velvet Teen in the way he croons from time to time but not so much to where he steps on any toes. The song breaks apart at the end only for you to be kicked in the face again when "Don't Even Get Me Started on Jebus" begins. Claiming that religion is all just a fairytale, it obvious right away that this band is nothing like their former and current projects. Julia's fills can be sloppy but she does what any good drummer does and keeps the pace moving steady and brisk.
They released two of the best tracks from the record on to MP3.com so they weren't huge surprises to me, hearing them before. "All Things Are Moving Toward Their End" starts off with a basic drum beat as all the instruments start to fall into place. Josh takes the forefront of this song, providing the main melody throughout. The chorus only comes once but once it does, you'll want to hear it again and again. This band's ability to write some catchy hooks is enough to impress just about anyone. "I'm A Sucker For Backwards Drums" is the political song on the record. It talks about the war on Iraq, in only a way that Josh can. Michael's screaming on this track is excellent as he yells at the top of his lungs, "How 'bout your fucking head on a stick?! Now get moving!"
Toward the end of the record you get to hear Michael sing as he starts off "When the Bombs Go Off." This song undoubtedly has the best lyrics on the CD featuring lines such as "Haters can blow us, they don't even know us."
If Josh weren't ready to go back to The Velvet Teen, this band would end up being huge. It'll be interesting to see what they end up doing, if anything ever again. Even as a side project, this band manages to be better than 80% of the garbage out there.
