2008 Woodie Awards
Local rockers fail to impress on latest effort
By Sean Lohrer
Issue date: 2/4/05 Section: Entertainment
Pittsburgh has never been the Mecca of the music industry. With the exception of Donnie Iris, the 'Burgh has never really produced a musician or band that came, saw and conquered. Sure we love our Clarks and Anti-Flag but selling out local clubs and amphitheaters isn't exactly ruling the charts of TRL.
Well, don't fret just yet. Our fair city's own Cherry Monroe might be making some mainstream waves soon enough, although I'm not convinced it's such a great thing.
Cherry Monroe's self-titled debut, released last October by Rust Records, is pretty much more of the same: A catchy pop-punk band that feels nothing but urgency to sing about played-out situations such as newfound love, teenage dilemmas and heartbreak. The band could honestly be confused with a hardcore version of the Calling mixed with a mediocre Sugarcult, which can't be good for anyone.
The album's single, "Satellites" is a track that can only be described as falling in love with an irresistible woman as the lead vocalist sings, "She dresses like a pop star/And I'm feeling so far/From reality/It ain't hard to understand/She can break any man/By the way she moves."
This track truly shows how the band's premier songwriter and lead singer, Matt Toka, can write lyrics on the same level as an adolescent girl or a lesser Chris Carrabbas.
One of the album's only two slow songs, "Anything" was the only track that sparked any sort of interest in me. The song, which is about a hard breakup, is set to a slow guitar and drumbeat, and is a nice change from the rest of the repetitive, boring tracks on the album. This song was truly one of the only songs where you could feel any type of emotion expressed.
Now, two things really got under my skin with this album. The first thing being how identical some of the songs on this album sounded like something the Gin Blossoms or Collective Soul would have written in 1994. I can understand if it was 1994 and these were the songs to write because everyone wanted to hear them. I could even understand if they idolized these bands and wanted to write something similar, but songs like "Can't Explain," "At the Stars" and "Down" are complete rip-offs without any originality.
Well, don't fret just yet. Our fair city's own Cherry Monroe might be making some mainstream waves soon enough, although I'm not convinced it's such a great thing.
Cherry Monroe's self-titled debut, released last October by Rust Records, is pretty much more of the same: A catchy pop-punk band that feels nothing but urgency to sing about played-out situations such as newfound love, teenage dilemmas and heartbreak. The band could honestly be confused with a hardcore version of the Calling mixed with a mediocre Sugarcult, which can't be good for anyone.
The album's single, "Satellites" is a track that can only be described as falling in love with an irresistible woman as the lead vocalist sings, "She dresses like a pop star/And I'm feeling so far/From reality/It ain't hard to understand/She can break any man/By the way she moves."
This track truly shows how the band's premier songwriter and lead singer, Matt Toka, can write lyrics on the same level as an adolescent girl or a lesser Chris Carrabbas.
One of the album's only two slow songs, "Anything" was the only track that sparked any sort of interest in me. The song, which is about a hard breakup, is set to a slow guitar and drumbeat, and is a nice change from the rest of the repetitive, boring tracks on the album. This song was truly one of the only songs where you could feel any type of emotion expressed.
Now, two things really got under my skin with this album. The first thing being how identical some of the songs on this album sounded like something the Gin Blossoms or Collective Soul would have written in 1994. I can understand if it was 1994 and these were the songs to write because everyone wanted to hear them. I could even understand if they idolized these bands and wanted to write something similar, but songs like "Can't Explain," "At the Stars" and "Down" are complete rip-offs without any originality.
