I’m going to come right out and say it: It’s difficult to review a local band. This is not because of their inability to access high-fidelity recording equipment, not because their style is rough and unfinished, lacking a strong sense of creative direction… no, none of that. Frankly, local bands are difficult to review because chances are you see one of the band members every day, respect them as a hometown personality, and perhaps even enjoy their company, and to write a negative review of their work would be more or less equal to giving them a swift kick in the crotch and then spitting on them as you walk away. Of course, it’s not that personal, but still, it’s hard to ignore that little raincloud hanging over your head that symbolizes your conflict between journalistic integrity and shameless, polite ass-kissing. Being (unfortunately at times) an honest person, I’m going to protect my integrity for whatever little it is worth.
ASAP (pronounced “A-sap”) is a self-described power-pop band based in Hillsborough, New Jersey, who have been on the town’s local music radar for a while. Made up of high school students Mike Spaniol (guitar, backing vocals), Joe MacPhee (bass, vocals), Scott Grollman (drums) and Mike Caprola (keyboard, vocals), though being still only high schoolers, they haven’t made much of an impact on their local scene just yet. Their influences are fairly evident; the band’s style falls somewhere between the Get-Up Kids and pre-Enema of the State Blink-182, with plenty of pop-punk guitar hooks and whining (not whiny) vocals, laced with traces of classic rock radio (Billy Joel and Boston come to mind at first) and more modern pop rock sounds. Their debut independent effort, Days To Nights, sounds closer to the aforementioned Blink-182 than anything else, though certain lyrics evoke images of various other artists who have been more or less popular over the years.
Days To Nights is perhaps most accurately described as “imperfect”; not bad, not great, just flawed. A few of the tracks (most notably “Ignition”) are a bit rough and unpolished, and lack the sheen and better judgment of songwriting experience; though the album’s a debut, the band has included very early tracks that don’t quite deserve their own place on the album amongst other, more promising songs like “Days To Nights,” the very good title track, and the promising “Recovery,” a track perhaps best described as a wonderful bastardization of the Descendents, Black Flag and Gin Blossoms. Really, it’s a good song.
Other tracks on the album hint at possible influences for the band’s stylistic direction; the album has traces of early Weezer throughout, most notably on “Starlit Searchlight” and “Have You Looked In The Mirror Lately”) and hints of Ben Folds and Semisonic pop up here and there on the record. It might be interesting if ASAP pursued the early Weezer power pop sound and began to lean in style closer to the Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World rather than Blink-182, and perhaps include some ’80s alternative to play on their punk influences; I’m thinking the Replacements, Husker Du, maybe some Fugazi. Those who know me will rebuff my recommendations as my standard perscription (“A little Paul Westerberg, maybe some Buffalo Tom, a dash of Archers of Loaf, and let’s throw in some Kerplunk-era Green Day for a sour twist the kids’ll love”), but I genuinely think that ASAP could benefit greatly from moving in the creative direction of these artists. For now, though, ASAP’s doing great, especially for such a young band; who knows what these kids could do if they threw in some new influences and got themselves a good producer.
THE VERDICT: In spite of the to-be-expected flaws, ASAP’s debut is strong for a local band. Check out “Starlit Searchlight,” “Days To Nights,” and “Recovery.”
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Check out ASAP at their official MySpace page and on Facebook.
