One Hit Wonder

Outfall (Nitro)
by Scott Hefflon

If you were to blend the speedy punkpop stylings of Guttermouth, a touch of the vocal inflection and the bridge-writing skills of a Vandals song, and a chorus similar to early Offspring, you’d get something like “Stay Away,” the first track off One Hit Wonder‘s Outfall. Not surprisingly, all the bands mentioned are on Nitro – this is either called consistency or homogeneity, depending upon how jaded you are. As a footnote to forget, it’s frightening how similar the chorus (I’ll hold the notes long while you guys bark the words crisp and kinda distorted-group-shout-style) is similar to, shiver, Nitro, the hair band whose vocalist now does metal singing instructional tapes available through mail order and whose guitarist (I think) went to jail for statutory rape. So anyway…

One Hit Wonder don’t live up their name. They pack the punk rock goods into each peppy ditty, layering the “whoa-whoa”s in the choruses, and snarling the melodies in a semi-gruff, yet still a radio-friendly voice. While all the elements can be easily traced back to their “roots” (meaning a record that came out last year), the result is still a damn good song. Sure, the words “Go Back To Bed” are sung on the exact same notes as the Vandals’ “Let The Bad Times Roll,” but the Vandals sung five words and OHW sing but four. See? They’re different. And I must congratulate them on the anthemic “Corporate Rock Rules.” This song (aside from the punk drumming) could’ve been a sing-along MTV hit by any of the great rock bands of yore (or your childhood). Restating the obvious in a singable song is the keystone of success. A nice little tip of the hat to Rick Neilsen’s Cheap Trick guitar soloing, too. And similar to pretty much everything else on Nitro, the songs are not only catchy, they also have some cool lyrics that, without being preachy, inspire the listener to read them. We aren’t talking about philosophical dissertations here, we’re singing along to catchy lines like “Like Mr. Reznor I feel the gloom” and “Kill, kill, kill, kill, all the violent people/ maybe that would do the trick/ hit ’em in the head with a 2×4/ would ya quit being such a dick.” You get the vibe – everyday words for the everyday person with everyday thoughts all set to that zany punk rock music the kids are eating up like sugar-coated cereal.