In December of 2002, River City High cheerfully announced that they would be signing to MCA records after brief stints with Doghouse and Big Wheel Recreation.
The legendary WussEmoRock predicted they would only last on the label for a year.
We all know how history panned outâ¦MCA collapsed leaving a surplus of bands in limbo feeling the wrath of major labels. Interscope and Geffen picked up some of the scrap, but had no real interest in River City High's recently recorded material produced by Arnold Lanni (Simple Plan).
Would you?
After the dismantling of their former label, half the band decided to quit. The schmuck with the cowboy hat and the drummer evacuated the dead end pop-group. This happened around the sometime Doghouse welcomed the band back with open arms. They hastily found some replacements (does he HAVE to wear the cowboy hat too?) and saddled back up with producer Brian Paulson (Superchunk, Archers of Loaf) who formed their, Forgets Their Manners EP.
By now you're all dying for me to reveal the whereabouts of WussEmoRock, however I don't have that information available to me, so you'll just have to settle for a summary of River City High's Extended Play EP.
The five song disc (which is printed only in the center while the outer edge remain clear, how cute) begins with a catchy guitar hook and continues to move along in appealing style as James Menefee croons with raspy vocals similar to the aggressive tendencies of Joey Cape. If only they could have crafted hooks and choruses like this throughout their career. Chances are they would be riding in a huge tour bus sharing the spotlight with Blink 182, Simple Plan, and Good Charlotte on $40 tours. Instead RCH continues to write material like "It's Over" and "Kiss Me," boring insipid pop-punk (and I use punk rather loosely) songs about girls. "Heads & Tails" reminds the listener of the upbeat melodies apparent in the beginning, but nothing worthy of getting too thrilled about.
Interscope and Geffen made an accurate decisions by passing on River City High, I'm sure they are wishing they had done the same with a few others *coughmidtowncoughriseagainstcough*
Sorry, flu season is on the horizon.
We can only hope this band takes the advice held within the chorus of the first track, "I'm not going to waste any more of your time."