| CD REVIEW The Rocket |
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Band : The Rocket When PunkRock act Skyrocket John decided to split in the Summer Of 2007 because it became increasingly difficult to synchronize each member’s schedule in such a way that the band could rehearse and/or do gigs, it left drummer Rogier De Vries and bassist/ backing singer Joris Goetstouwers with an empty feeling they absolutely wanted to fill again! Luckily for them, Gino’s Eyeball members Tom De Ridder (lead vocals & guitar) and Geoff Van Calster (with G’s E he plays the bass & does additional vocals) were willing to join a new project, the latter changing his normal instrument for keyboards…for the intent was to have a Poppy PunkRock act with added synth & keyboards sounds (or as they say themselves in the opening track of their album, “We’re not here to change the world, we are here to prove that entertainment can be cheap”…and so The Rocket came into life during Summer 2008! Cited influences in those days include Motion City Soundtrack, Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, New Found Glory, Weezer, and…hold onto your caps, boys and girls…Vengaboys! Indeed, that Dutch EuroDance/Techno quartet which was so darn popular in the late ‘90s and early years of the new millenium! After a while Second Base’s frontman Stijn Debontridder was equally found willing to join, bringing in the second guitar and extra backing vocals! In other words, what you get here is a bunch of awefully commercial PopPunk songs with singalong melodies! One songs sounds almost like the other, and when I first listened to the album I was quite annoyed with the frontman’s constant high-pitch of a voice! However, when listening to the album through headphones, my attention shifted somewhat towards the keyboard incertions, and I indeed became less annoyed with the singing style! And towards the end of the album the boys even cover the Vengaboys hit song “Boom Boom Boom Boom”, which to me becomes the highlight of the album! After having given the album a couple more spins in the cd-player, I have to admit that every song on the album has the potential to become a sing-along session during live gigs. Personally, my favourite tracks remain that album opening “Up Up And Away”, “The Neverending Story” (silly love song theme), “Tommy Teabag” (mainly because the title attracted my attention first), and of course that cover track (which I’ve been humming all day now, although rather with the original female vocals in mind, heheh)! Check out the band’s material at myspace.com/therocketofficial, or go see ‘em at one of their upcoming shows (posted at that same MySpace page – for those among you living in the neighborhood of Leuven, they’ll be at Rockcafé, Oude Markt, on Dec 28…and at Sojo on January 15)! 80/100 Tony. |