Scamper – Leave Your Glasses On – Review

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Leave Your Glasses On
by Scott Deckman

Caveat. This ain’t my cup of tea, this tepid milquetoast-by-the-numbers-teenage-girl-dupin-Goo Goo Dolls shite, but ah, for what it’s worth, I can’t get that goddamned “Sophie” outta my head, so there has to be something redeeming about Scamper, said to be one of Boston’s more accomplished unsigned bands. On Leave Your Glasses On – title of their debut record and chorus of said song all – the band shows potential with adroit musicianship and pop sense, but lacks originality and bite. It may not matter, though. In these days of crap popmo (Simple Plan, Dashboard Confessional) and post-grunge jokes (Nickelback) polluting the airwaves, I don’t see why Scamper can’t get a hit out of “Sophie.” The sad part is there might be a worthwhile album waiting to pop out here, somewhere. Take the Joey Santiago surf guitar on “Needless to Say,” or the deft riffing on “Longshot” and “Another Time.” But when you can write radiolite-friendly choruses like those found on “Wait Wait,” who needs songcraft? Why bother? Well, there’s always The WB-ready “Sophie.” A couple more of those and maybe they can get signed. Why am I not excited? Come on Scamper, you can do better than this…
(www.scamper.net)