Gig Reviews
VOLA
Store VEGA, Copenhagen, DEN - 30/11
Album Reviews
The Hextalls
Rock You To Sleep
Written by: PP on 05/05/2012 13:51:19
There's only one band that can get away with opening their new record by singing "You're listening to the greatest band in the world / You're welcome, for the greatest, you're welcome, we're the greatest band in the world" in repeat mode during its chorus without sounding pretentious and self-indulgent. That band is The Hextalls from Canada, an anthemic no-frills pop punk band who have ever since their inception thrown seriousness out the window of the top floor in a skyscraper and focused on having as much tongue-in-cheek fun as possible. It's a group of dudes whose only intention is to tell the world how awesome it is being in The Hextalls, how all music needs not to be super serious nor artistically complete, and how it's perfectly alright to bin all norms about recorded music in favour of a bright, summery expression about topics most other bands would discard as juvenile or unworthy material for a studio album.
And so their latest album "Rock You To Sleep" is basically a direct continuation of the path taken on their hilarious record "Get Smashed" from two years ago. Without a care in the world, the band sings about wanting to be naked in a tree house, how country music star Kenny Rogers should be naked in a park, how Danko Jones & Avril Lavigne suck in comparison to the Canadian CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence, about Tiger Woods video games, about Philadelphia Flyers losing to Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL Stanley Cup Final a couple of years ago, and much more. Perhaps most importantly, they sing about being completely smashed at all times of the day. Pretty much every song sounds like The Hextalls downed a 12-pack of beer each and decided on some retarded topic to sing about, went into the studio, and laid down some high-octane power chords, floored the pedal and let singer Devin turn the whole thing into a light-hearted summer party. The songs are silly - even more so when you consider that the band are in their 30s - but the truth is that they still know how to write perhaps the catchiest music out of any no-frills pop punk band out there. If you don't like "Rock You To Sleep", you probably hate having fun and frown upon those who you view as immature people (read: those having more fun than you).
Download: Holy Fuck I'm A Dad, I Bred This Beard For Slaughter, My Name Is Kenny Rogers, I Just Want To sleep In The Treehouse
For the fans of: Teenage Bottlerocket, The Copyrights, The Dopamines, Frenzal Rhomb
Listen: Bandcamp
Release date 02.02.2012
Self-Released