"â¦but while your back was turned, we crossed the bridges that you burned. We gotta get it there's a fire in this town tonight. Off my feet into the street, we're gonna do it right." â The Explosion
A quick glance at the members and the artwork you would probably think this record came out in the 70's Punk "explosion." But you couldn't be more wrong, as you're about three decades off.
The Explosion formed in 1998 and with nothing under their belts aside from a few demos and a couple of live performances the five members were signed to the popular Jade Tree Records. With little time wasted the band put the finishing on touched on the demos and put out this self-titled EP that I like to refer to as a hidden gem.
The record starts with "These Times" and has a really nice bass intro by Damian Genuardi. Then the rest of the band kicks in as Matt Hock delivers his volatile voice that I would describe as a combination of Blake Swartzenbach (Jawbreaker) and Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers). The song is filled with powerful guitar chords, strong drumming, excellent vocals by all members, and some "hey hey hey's" go get you moving.
Next up is "Hero" which has Hock singing rather than shouting this time. The instrumental part also mellows down from the opener. The party song "Out Tonite" follows and is a perfect example of how a Punk Rock song should sound. Short catchy intro, fast captivating music, scratchy authoritative voice, and lyrics about going out and having fun.
A short twelve-minute, six song EP that combined the best of the Stiff Little Fingers, Descendents, and Jawbreaker made it pretty easy for me to put the Explosion on a pedestal high above most of today's Punk Rock bands. Simply because they do just that, play Punk Rock, it's all I really want in this world surrounded by hyphenated terms (i.e. Pop-Punk, Ska-Punk, Emo-Punk, Hardcore-Punk, Post-Punk, etcâ¦). It was really refreshing for me to hear this release and if you like what you hear here, your ears will be pleased, as their full length "Flash, Flash, Flash" is incredible.