Houseboy

Ya Right (Stiff Pole)
by Scott Hefflon

Brett Friesen, formerly of Chicago’s The Bollweevils, moves to sunny California and teams up with a few other caffeine-addicted punkpoppers into fast music, constant guitar charges, and a bit of emo-esque bass thrown in for good measure. They call the beast Houseboy, they’re unconcerned with the fact that their singer is flat, monotonous, or sounds like he’s not even listening to the rest of the band when he’s singing (I seem to recall people saying the same thing about the Bouncing Souls and look at them now!), and they have a lot of fun recording Ya Right!. I only pick on the singer because he tries to sing in that high range like British new wave and he just doesn’t have the voice for it. Fast and furious, these guys sound like they’d rock live (and then the singer’s inaccuracies would be easier to ignore as the energy of the music washes over you), and with a song entitled “Brett’s in Love with Drew Barrymore” I can’t help but like ’em.
(PO Box 20721 St. Petersburg, FL 33742)