| CD REVIEW Born To Lose |
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Band : Born To Lose After trying out their luck and honing their skills in several other Punk Rock acts in and around Austin, Texas, the members of Born To Lose found each other in a common goal and musical direction, and founded a stable line-up with singer Chris Klinck, guitarists Ben Hallard (also vocals) and Kevin Gentry, bassist Chris Hausen, and drummer Larry Hargrave. Three months later they had recorded and released their debut EP Here's To You and then head out on the Austin club circuit to build up their strong and loyal following. While doin' that they also continued to write new songs and got themselves the funds to record their debut full-length release Dreams Die Fast, which eventually saw the light of day somewhat belatedly (due to the need to find the money to do so, see?) in the Summer of 2001. Thanks to the warm reception from the fans, the band found themselves back in a studio to record their next EP Our World only three months later. After running that material all over Texas again, the boys decided it was about time to bring their music to other people in America, and take their music out on the road. At this point my info becomes unclear, because non-existing, but probably the guys continued to plague the stages all over America, occasionally heading back to a studio to record some more records...mind you, I'm not sure about that latter fact, also not sure whether they got any backing from a bonafied label to release their stuff. What I dó know, is that they eventually got their Sweet Misery album (released in the US through Sailor's Grave Records) issued in Europe through the German People Like You in 2006. When it comes to the quintet's music, it's been called everything from "Street Punk" to "Pub Rock", and the guys have also gotten the monicker of "Kings Of Whoa Punk", due to the fact that quite a lot of their songs turn up having that word used. That not everyone is equally pleased with the band's musical antics, was quite evidently shown with a rather unkind reviewfor Sweet Misery on punknews.org [(in most Punk Rock)"...you aren't to get virtuoso musicianship, introspective lyrics, biting political prose, awkward time signatures...", (the album) "...is without a single exceptional quality at all...", "...What you would hope for are fist-pumping anthems, catchy lyrics and a memorable melody or two. Sadly enough all you get with Sweet Misery is Born To Lose's approximations of what those things might be...", "...the "whoa" continues to plague the album for its entire duration...", "...Chris Kinck's drunken slur is not very inspiring...", "...This record seems somewhat futile, in that this year alone there was manu other far superior releases in this genre of music..."). Frankly, listening to the band's new album, I wonder whether perhaps the band's gone through some directional change (doubtful, in only a year), or whether that reviewer perhaps had a stone to grind with the band for some reason. What I hear is a Punk Rock band with great Rock sensibility which plays their music at reasonably high pace, but leaves room for short breathers. I'll grant to the fact that the unattentive listener might indeed feel the songs all sounds the same...because it takes at least sóme of his attention to recognize the underlaying melodies within each song. In actuallity, the guitars have an interesting rhythm/ lead (plus additional solos) interaction with a slight progressive build-up, so I suppose that anyone used to the pre-chewn melodic stuff from the majority of Pop Punk acts around will indééd have trouble in actually using some of his numbed brain cells when it comes to BTL's music! Something which, I'm glad to say, is a small effort the BTL fans are obviously prepared to make...as one would witness from seeing the sing-along percentage in the audience at BTL shows! The band has one of the greatest lead singer/ backing singer set-ups I've heard in a long while, and as for the "Whoa" factor...well, it's still there...but I've seldom heard such a variety of ways to sing that word. When push comes to shove, I have to say the album has completely soaked up my attention from start to finish, each of the...is it seven times now?...I've come to listen to it...and each time I still get bewildered by that great lead here, that wonderful solo there, or the driven underlaying rhythmic melody elsewhere. I won't go as far as to categorize the album in my year-lists yet, and I'm hoping to be able to continue studying the album some more at a quiet moment. Meanwhil, feel free to check out the band at myspace.com/borntolose, where the guys posted two songs off the new album (the title track and "Give Us Hate") alongside three still very representative but older songs (two off the previous album, and one off the 2001 full-length debut), giving proof of the band's consistency in musical direction. 95/100 Tony. |