Audio By Carbonatix
In the 1980s, a teenage metalhead’s wet dream was the almighty package tour, where groupings like Poison/Ratt and Mötley Crüe/Whitesnake roamed arenas to overload fans with lighter anthems, raucous chords and pyrotechnics galore. Unsurprisingly, hair metal’s modern mainstream counterpart–the nebulously defined “pop-punk” bands–carries the hairspray torch proudly when it comes to a tendency to travel in packs. In fact, a veritable gaggle of emo bands are tagging along with Mest, whose three major-label albums betray the band’s perfect attendance record at the Good Charlotte school of ripping off Green Day. Austin’s Dynamite Boy and the Chicagoans in Fall Out Boy practice a slightly rawer and less derivative variation of pogo-ing rock, with their reliance on twirling tempos and snotty, Blink 182-bright harmonies. Yet the New Yorkers in Matchbook Romance steal the show by flawlessly combining the driving choruses of Taking Back Sunday with the melodic sophistication of Brand New–crafting, in short, insanely infectious tunes that ensure that this four-pronged show will be nothing but a good time.
