Someone has a penchant for The Clash, but has also been inundated by too much Pop Punk or Powerpop. Colin McBride has a Joe Strummer feel vocally (minus the accent), although the lyrics are much more simple and clichι. There's no timeless rebellion here. It is especially difficult to feel "We Won't March" as any more than a teen angst ditty with the Bowling For Soup bass line of Danny Oleson. For less than 16 minutes of listening, We Won't March is hardly excruciating. The songs fly. A Bob Stinson guitar solo appears occasionally. Speaker Speaker, most likely due to a small recording budget, sounds like a Twin/Tone band, but as imperfect as such productions are, they play rich and full. With We Won't March, Speaker Speaker is essentially recorded live. Two of the five tracks, "Call It Off" and "Radio Days", in fact, skip the studio altogether. "Call It Off" is the best track. A numbing mix of cold streets, dirty apartments furnished from curbs, and disparate frustration, the triumphant "Call It Off" finds the vein their other songs miss.
While not being particularly floored by We Won't March, I wouldn't necessarily advise against a listen to Speaker Speaker, especially if the opportunity arises to see them live.
Tracks added to iPod: Call It Off (Live)
