Sanchez : Run the Streets
by Mark Allen
Staff Writer
In an ominous introductory monologue to the latest debacle—er, album—from this Swedish band, the narrator menacingly growls, “We will no more be treated like dirt!” Uh, actually, yes, you will, if you continue to release music this bad.
You could maintain that it takes herculean effort to actually get an album released and therefore any band that puts something out there deserves some sort of kudos. A valid enough argument, but the counterpoint is that merely releasing an album should not automatically entitle a band to slack-cutting from reviewers when that album happens to be terrible, and the cold, hard truth is, Run the Streets is terrible, with redeeming qualities scarcer than a virgin at the Playboy Mansion. About the only thing going for it is the guitarist, who actually possesses some nice chops, but the cheap production, lame lead vocals, ball-less bass, and hollow drums do him no favors.
Sanchez aims for that ‘80s melodic/glam-rock sound, even having the audacity to compare themselves to Danger Danger, Firehouse, and Dokken in a case of epic self-delusion. This is the equivalent of giving your girlfriend a day-old dollop of dog shit and trying to dupe her into believing it’s a diamond. Sure, Sanchez tick off the right boxes on the standard glam-rock checklist—melodic guitars, obvious hooks, sizeable choruses, big harmonies—but they do so in the most tired, amateur, low-rent style imaginable.
A large portion of the blame lies at the feet of the production values. The harmony vocals, for example, are poorly layered and thrust too far forward in the mix to the point of distraction. These guys pride themselves on twiddling their own studio knobs, but pride can sometimes blind you to your blunders. Sanchez need to hire an outsider who will say, “Guys, you suck, but here’s how we’re going to fix that.” That would be money well spent.
Lyrically the band wallow in subpar ‘80s glam-rock clichés. While this may be part and parcel of the genre, some of the lyrics will cause you to cringe worse than Freddy Krueger’s finger-knives scraping across a bone-dry chalkboard. From “Friends,” Sanchez’s first attempt at a ballad, comes this priceless lyrical gem: “Pals…that’s what we were / Pals…in the name of rock.” That’s bad enough to make Bon Jovi sound like William Blake.
The album is half over before Sanchez come up with a song that shows the slimmest glimmer of hope. “Rock & Roll Stars” starts out with mundane promise before building to one of the best chorus hooks of the album. Granted, it’s a hook savagely slaughtered by the sonic disaster crashing all around it, but it’s a good hook nonetheless and proves that with the assistance of a ruthless producer, the band could release some solid melodic hard rock tunes. Other tracks that are a cut above the rest of the dismal pack are “Bullet in Your Heart” which features some extra sizzle in the guitars along with a pounding rhythm, and the closing track “The Gambler,” which also displays a heavier edge.
How Sanchez procured a contract with this kind of tripe is an unfathomable mystery. This attempt at an ‘80s throwback hair-rock album has its heart in the right place but the execution is poorer than a pauper in a third-world country. Even the presence of a talented guitarist is not enough to surmount the plethora of negatives that plague this album. It’s clear that Jose Sanchez and his band of merry melodic rockers want to cater to the glam-rock crowd, but that crowd is going to take one listen to this atrocity and say, “No way, Jose!”
Genre: Melodic/glam rock
Band:
Jose Sanchez (vocals)
Kieven Klevmyr (guitars)
Marc White (bass)
Mr. Drumhead (drums)
Track Listing
1. Stand Up (For Your Rights)
2. We Got Your Love
3. Run the Streets
4. Friends
5. Rock & Roll Stars
6. Bullet in Your Heart
7. Girls
8. Empty Words
9. Don’t Wanna Get Around
10. The Gambler
Label: 7Hard Records
Hardrock Haven rating: 4/10