No Plan

No Plan (2022)

Ricky Frankel

When you think of vocalist Eva Hall, what comes to mind is her heavy involvement in the SoCal punk scene fronting hardcore bands like Rats In The Wall and Power Alone. What you don’t necessarily think of is anything resembling pop-punk. Well interestingly, Hall took quite the unexpected turn and actually went in a more pop-punk direction with her new-ish band, No Plan.

For their first release No Plan put out a self-titled EP in 2022. The five-track record is full of uber-aggressive tunes that definitely stand out amongst the more general pop-punk realm. The track “Aim Low” really sets the tone for the rest of the EP. Hall’s vocals here and through out the release strike balance between her signature, throaty yelling that you hear with her other projects and some melody. “Aim Low” also features some sliding octave leads from the guitar and some seriously slamming drums.

One of the catchiest songs on this record is “Another Day.” The chord progressions give off an early-Green Day vibe. Hall really pushes herself to hit those higher notes and she succeeds.

“Slight Discomfort” also stands out because this is where Hall’s vocals get the most melodic. Her singing follows the distorted notes that the guitar lets ring out for a solid part of the tune until it all gets changed up with some crunchy palm-muting.

No Plan really have something here. In a sea of Ramone-core and sugary-sweet sounding pop-punk bands, the band’s EP is really unique and yet it did not get the attention it rightfully deserved when it got released. Hopefully, this is not just a one-off record and we’ll get more from No Plan in the near future.

You can listen to this release here.