dBmagazine.com.au

CDs:
· Okkervil River
(We liked it and you will too!)

· An Angle
· American Head Charge
· British Sea Power
· Colder
· Crystal Skulls
· Fountains Of Wayne
· Funkadelic
· Hard-Fi
· Jem
· Motor Ace
· Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
· Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band
· Richard Thompson
· Split Enz
· The Starting Line
· Wilderness

Live:
· Alexisonfire
· Architecture In Helsinki
· Bluebottle Kiss
· Bodyjar
· Eighteen Visions

The Starting Line
Based On A True Story
Drive-Thru/Geffen/UMG

Lights! Camera! Soft-core melodic-punk! (Or a hyphenated combination thereof). When you're trying to combine influences as diverse as NOFX and The Get Up Kids you know you'll get something good, but will it be unique, or will it fall somewhere in the middle along with the myriad of other 20-somethings dyeing their hair black and getting tattoos much to their mother's disapproval?

Well, Kenny Vasoli has brown hair and plays no less than eight instruments on the album, so I guess he's not your average pretty-boy front man.

With the writing criteria including, 'Can people sing-along and dance to it?', the initial response is to lump them with the likes of pop-punkers Sum 41 and Good Charlotte, but The Starting Line deserve more credit than that. Sure, there are hooks galore, love songs (Photography) and fist pumping choruses (The World), but, but... well, but nothing. 'Based On A True Story' is a concept album of sorts, documenting Vasoli's life with a few white lies thrown in to spice things up. He also takes a dig at the music industry (but don't they all?) on Ready.

They are more rock-punk than 'those' MTV bands, but I wouldn't be surprised to see their names in the Top 30 Countdowns. With this their second album and having played on the Warped Tour since 2002, I'm just curious as to why they aren't more commercial already.

Cassie Hilditch

The latest issue
available now!

2008 Adelaide International Guitar Festival