Doc Hopper

Zigs, Yaws, and Zags (Go-Kart)
by Scott Hefflon

Been a while since we’ve heard from Doc Hopper. Good to have them back. Zigs, Yaws & Zags is a pleasantly all-over-the-map release to show where the band has been. The scoop: they grew up in Maine, moved to Boston, recorded 7″s and a couple of well-received full-lengths for New Hampshire’s Ringing Ear Records (Aloha and Ask Your Mom), won the WBCN Rumble for Best Band in Boston (the year I was supposed to judge but got kicked out for “unbefitting behavior”), and now, after a break in which someone moved to New Jersey, they’re back with an 11-song, 30-minute release on Go-Kart. Hints of Descendents, perhaps some Green Day, a bit of almost country guitar (if Armchair Martian can get away with it, why can’t Doc Hopper?), a bit of emo/indie rock, and some full-on guitar rock jamming. There’re solos and refreshingly unpunk fills and transitions – nice. Produced by Jim Tierney (the older, uglier, lo-fi punk stuff), Zigs, Yaws & Zags has a “classic” punk sound, whatever that means to you.
(PO Box 20 Prince St. Station New York, NY 10012)