Gatsbys American Dream

Gatsbys American Dream: Why We FightWhy We Fight (2002)
Rocketstar Recordings

Reviewer Rating: 4.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: HeinHein
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Published on August 16th 2002Seattle-based Gatsby's American Dream derived their name from F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel "The Great Gatsby". The ill-fated main character named Gatsby had an American dream. "He made the decision to do whatever it took to make his dream come true", explains Bob Darling (one of the 2 guitari.

Seattle-based Gatsby's American Dream derived their name from F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel "The Great Gatsby". The ill-fated main character named Gatsby had an American dream. "He made the decision to do whatever it took to make his dream come true", explains Bob Darling (one of the 2 guitarists in the band). "But he didn't do it for the sake of being wealthy and powerful, he did it for this girl Daisy. He was motivated by something pure, his own dream of being with Daisy. And that's the kind of dream that I want. And that's what this band I'm in is all about. GAD is to live by your heart." So there's the story.

And I can tell you that this debut album of these 5 youngsters, all in their early 20's, is really a masterpiece that stole my heart. Not only do they deliver a powerful melodic gathering of songs, they also manage to offer them with quite some original mixture of styles and showing astonishing technical skills. You really don't need to be a musical expert to notice the proficiency of both guitarplayers and rhythm-section. The diversity of keys and tempo-changes in the guitarplay, sometimes toggling the snares staccato, then playing riffy metal-influenced loops (a bit reminding of early LagWagon), stop and goes, dissonance evolving into plain melodic rocking sounds ... it's really amazing stuff. And you can add to this some class A drumming, with a guy that seems to manipulate his pedals as easy as his sticks, adding sometimes very subtle wood-ticks on the side of his drums. And then there's a singer that has a warm full voice and lyrics that for once have some good story-telling in them and that have truely thoughtprovoking poetic lines. Also he manages to add that little more emotional feel to this sound, a bit contrasting with the instruments.

The man at the knobs, Aaron Sprinkle, who also did MxPx's "Pokinatcha" as well as work for bands like Waxwing, Squad 5-0, Pedro the Lion, Zao and Stavesacre, is responsible for the faultless sound.

I would suggest all of you to pick up this album from the recently founded Rocketstar label. Fans of the more recent stuff like Finch, Thrice and even The Starting Line or Movielife will be certainly charmed by the emotion and vocals in the release, while fans of maybe Lagwagon (especially for the song "Nickarockya"), Propagandhi and even Strung Out will undoubtedly admire the technical guitarplay and rhythm-section. Future is looking bright for these guys. I just hope they can hold on to the tightness in these songs in future releases, because I've got the impression that a lot of these well-skilled bands tend to head for a more artistic (read less catchy) approach. Let's cross fingers and hope they are not lead into temptation.

Just wanted to tell you that you can listen to songs 2, 4 and 7 on their mp3.com page, but for me their best songs are 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8, not surprisingly their somewhat harder melodic work.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

FatTony (August 17, 2006)

These guys are one of my favorite Seattle bands (and thus, one of my favorites overall), and it's amazing to see how they've evolved since this album. I'm not too big on this album, and when I saw them play a few months before Ribbons & Sugar came out, I wrote them off as sounding too much like NFG. I've never been so wrong in my life.

Anonymous (October 26, 2004)

amazing band imho ...

Anonymous (August 22, 2002)

Booyah! Great band, great original sound, talented musicians. The singer goes "Yeah!" and "Alright!" a little too much, he should tone that down or find another catch phrase. Still, I wish they'd come to the East Coast, they're probably awesome live too.

Anonymous (August 18, 2002)

Those who have seen Gatbys live know that Why We fight does the band no justice. To the asshole Kevin why dont you actually listen to the Bob and Ryan actually play the guitar and Nic blow your ass off before you judge them.

Jeff

Anonymous (August 18, 2002)

man this record eats ass. warning: nothing like thrice, lagwagon, propaghandi, or strung out!
and heiny man whats your deal with comparing shit drive-thru bands like Finch with Thrice?
Thrice and Finch are so far from one another it's not even funny. You don't shit about music. Finch blows. So do you, and so does drive-thru! that rhymed fuck ya. of yeah and the starting line and something corporate and new found suck can all eat my ass
love, kevin furlong

travis (August 18, 2002)

i say check out waxwing and minus the bear if youre looking for some good music from seattle. both are releasing new stuff before the end of the year.

westsidepunk (August 18, 2002)

Seems like their are a lot of seattle punks on this site...Well, the guy who says to go pick up the nobody wins CD, Are You on Crack? NW is definitley a blink/green day/drive-thru wannabe rip off band. Gatsbys sound nothing like Blink. The best bands in the local scene are Acceptance, Gatsbys, Seldom and Vendetta Red. Speaking of Acceptance. They are about to sign a major label deal in the next 4-6 weeks.

evildeadalive (August 17, 2002)

I really like the Cripples for Seattle punk...

guitarer1c2 (August 17, 2002)

This is a great CD and no, it doesn't sound at all like Blink 182.

AtomicGarden (August 17, 2002)

Not a huge fan of this band, but I have to say the Seattle punk scene is fucking thriving right now. If you're in the area, check out some of these bands: Youth at Risk, Schoolyard Heroes, The Hollowpoints, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Your Enemies Friends, Instant Winner, One False Move, etc... I have to say the scene has grown and is really kickin' right now in terms of awesome young bands.

travis (August 17, 2002)

I saw this band open up for waxwing last january for the first time and was totally blown away. From the first chord my friend and i looked at each other and were like, 'who the fuck is this opening band?' They continued to rip the audience of waxwing fans a new asshole, and it seemed as though they gained a lot of new fans from the show.

Ive liked this band ever since, and I think Hein's review is right on. While its not the most amazing music ive ever heard, it is at the very least quite enjoyable.

And to the person who likened them to blink 182, please, if you dont like gatsby's, just say so. dont say they sound like a band that they really sound nothing like, just to say they are bad. If you don't like them, you dont like them.

Me, im just waiting for their September 21st show in Seattle at the Waxwing CD release party.

Anonymous (August 17, 2002)

swimfan@

Anonymous (August 17, 2002)

I think you are way off. These guys are a no talent bunch of rip offs. I was tricked into buying one of their cd's and let me tell you that their only talent is copying other bands. You might as well be listening to Blink 182. All ten tracks can easily be traced to the blink song that they ripped off. And don't let me get started on the lyrics. They might as well be N'Sync. Anyone else see the similarities between Bye, Bye, Bye and track 2, Where Shadows Lie? Even the names of those two songs ryhme. Do yourself and favor and go pick up the new Nobody Wins CD.