Collider

Collider’s bio talks more about the Ramones then it does about the band. Granted, Collider seems pretty tightly ingrained with the New York music community, they even have Tom Erdelyi (more famously known as Tommy Ramone) in the producer’s chair. Band frontman / keyboardist Jed Davis even has a footnote in Ramones history, having written and performed on the tribute song “The Bowery Electric” that the surviving Ramones recorded after Joey’s death.So while it usually goes unsaid that modern pop-punk bands are heavily influenced by the Ramones, Collider seems to have enough of a connection to warrant it.

It’s surprising then that on record Collider sounds far less like the Ramones then one's lead to think. Davis’ past as an indie singer / songwriter have developed his rapid-fire vocals and smartass lyrics into something entire his own. The feature that his songwriting does share with the pioneering Queens band is a love for sugary 50s-60s pop. While such light and cheery pop-punk is definitely not where my interests fall at the moment, I can’t deny Collider does a fine job with them. Equally effective are the shades of Elvis Costello in the ballad “Aftermath” and the mid-tempo anthem of “If They Don’t Come Back.” This is pop-punk, but it’s written with more skill than a lot of the young bands that crowd the genre.

Its funny how entwined this EP is elements of Ramones lore: Arturo Vega created the cover art, CJ Ramone contributes a “1-2-3-4” shout to the song “Say Yeah,” Joey’s quoted in the press release as calling Davis “brilliant.” Yet for the all the namedropping, Collider really have enough going for them that they can stand on their own. While WCYF is at times overbearingly poppy, it’s definately a lot of fun.