OC45 – “When It Hits”
OC45 is one of our “underdog” bands and they’re kind of my favorite one we cover. What I mean by that is everyone else gets excited when the big bands come to town, the legendary ones, the big shows. But the smaller shows interest me more ’cause local is what we cover. And I think our local bands are good as or better than anyone else.
And the established bands we have are great but they’ve already reached their popularity, need us a little less, and don’t interest me as much either.
What I am interested in is the up and coming bands, the struggling ones where you see some spark but you don’t know if it will ignite or go out. To me that’s what punk rock is all about.
I’ve written previously about OC45 and it makes me proud to see what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished. We know them from early on where most of their sets had technical difficulties and performances were hit or miss but we believed in them.
And they’ve proved us right by believing in themselves, by releasing a great album last year and continuing to do so with this great four song EP. And they continue to prove their dedication to what they do by being on their second USA tour as I write. And when I say USA, yes, these guys go down to Alabama over to California, through the Midwest and back.
They’re not so new or upcoming now but it’s great to see them grow and is one of the best bands that fall into the pop/punk category we have by never losing the spirit of punk in their songs along with delivering them with a hardcore passion.
Let’s give a couple of tunes a spin.
“Strong Coffee” is my favorite on this EP. A tale of the struggle of the working/drinking class. “Strong coffee/ weak checks/ from one job to the next/ get out of work/ get fucking wrecked….I woke up in a haze/ seems to be the trend these days/ feel likes there’s no way out.” Barreling ahead rhythms back bellowing, melodic vocals while a chugging rhythm guitar, I’m guessing played by lead singer Adam, add a bubbling underneath energy (I love his style). There’s a staccato sharp break in the middle with an awesome guitar interlude until we’re back for a rousing, passionate finish.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/03 Strong Coffee.mp3|titles=Strong Coffee]
“My Best Friend Makes Bombs” is another strong number about a childhood friend who wanted to be a doctor and ends up making biochemical arms. It’s about growing up together. “Since then we lost our innocence/ but I guess in a sense/ we never had it all along.” It starts with pounding drums, a stop and go guitar intro then a sparse verse followed by a full, ringing Clash like chorus. “Beneath the Rhode Island Stars/ we couldn’t help but speculate/ what lies ahead and why things gotta change.” A nice guitar solo towards the end leads us back to the melodic, unison voice chorus.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/04 My Best Friend Makes Bombs.mp3|titles=My Best Friend Makes Bombs]
I just happen to notice that I’m wearing my OC45 t-shirt while writing this review and if I recall correctly, they were one of the first bands to offer me a free one. And I remember the show, it was at what they now call the South Shore Music Hall, and it was my first time seeing them as well as Taxi Driver, another band making us proud.
I like every song on this EP, their style is pop/punk but there’s a lot of hardcore, Oi and street punk influence as well. That’s all good to point out, to categorize …that’s what we do, explain the inexplicable. But what’s more important to say is there are a whole lot of guts, passion, integrity, excitement, honesty and grit in everything they do.
Check it out, maybe you’ll believe in them as much as I do.
I believe you will.
(Slimedog)
