{"id":49551,"date":"2015-05-30T10:37:19","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T15:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=49551"},"modified":"2015-05-30T12:52:32","modified_gmt":"2015-05-30T17:52:32","slug":"beat-the-drag-whats-your-damage-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2015\/beat-the-drag-whats-your-damage-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Beat the Drag | What’s Your Damage?<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n– Managing Editor –<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Beatthedrag-350x350.jpg\"Screaming out of Hollywood is a new Rock band called Beat the Drag. Their debut full-length, What\u2019s Your Damage<\/em>, is chock-a-block full of snarky lyrics, biting social commentary, tales of drunken abandon, and good ol\u2019 fashioned tainted love and loss. It\u2019s pretty damn funny too \u2026<\/p>\n

The title track kicks things off. This is noisy Hard Rock, and singer\/guitarist Trev\u00a0has an omnipresent sneer to his vocals. In their bio, they compare themselves to bands like Fu Manchu, the Hellacopters and Backyard Babies. This has a bit of a Punk vibe to it, and when you hear lyrics like \u201cYou\u2019d watch your neighbor\u2019s mansion burning, and complain about the fucking smoke,\u201d the attitude just drips venom. Great intro to the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cSplit-Second Smile\u201d is their second single off the new album. There\u2019s a real sing-song aspect to this track, especially during the chorus, and there\u2019s some heavy, slow riffing after the choruses. The interesting component here is that Trev sings with a kind of uplifting tone, but the song itself is about those \u201cwoe is me\u201d purposefully self-destructive and depressed peeps who can\u2019t get out of their own heads. \u201cYour self-abuse is legend; at least you hope it will be.\u201d There\u2019s a nice slap to the teeth.<\/p>\n

Off to the races they go on \u201cHeroine.\u201d This is a manic, Punk ripper that is like if Social Distortion needed more distortion. Again, this is not a feel-good song. \u201cI\u2019d kill myself just to be with you for a night \u2026 or will you kill yourself alone?\u201d asks the chorus. Fun with fun!<\/p>\n

Relationship songs are always a kick, especially when they are as caustic as \u201cInsignificant Other.\u201d The riff on this track is complicated, melodic, and just kick ass. As Trev lays out the reason while this relationship is nothing but poison, he sings \u201cIf it looks like shit and it smells like shit, you shouldn\u2019t roll around in it.\u201d Everyone has probably been involved in relationship hell at one time or another, and this is the universal anthem for it.<\/p>\n

The first single off of What\u2019s Your Damage<\/em> was \u201cMistakes Were Made.\u201d That\u2019s like a politician \u201cadmitting\u201d to letting lobbyists buy his\/her vote and saying \u201cYes, mistakes have existed during my time on this earth at one point or another.\u201d It\u2019s a hilarious, catchy, cool song, with bits of lyrical wisdom like \u201cAnd the secret of my no success is to live in blissful mediocrity.\u201d Trev\u2019s solo here is one of the most musical on the release; where he can sometimes blaze away, this one carries a ton of melody.<\/p>\n

The best overall track is \u201cPenny Black.\u201d It\u2019s got a danceable groove, killer leads, and the most memorable chorus on the entire release. The gang vocals on the chorus just make you want to bang your head and yell along with the band. As always, the lyrics tell a gritty story, with lines like \u201cThose girls all look the same to me. Same whore, just different diseases now.\u201d The protagonist of this song should not be on Match.com.<\/p>\n

The bonus track if you buy the CD is \u201cThe Best Nights.\u201d This probably comes in second to \u201cPenny Black.\u201d Drinking songs, like Def Leppard\u2019s \u201cWasted,\u201d can stay with you for decades and never get old. This is one of those songs. It\u2019s again a dirty, noisy track, with gems like \u201cI\u2019m all for settling, just not down,\u201d and \u201cI can\u2019t say you won\u2019t be forgotten, but if you are, you can\u2019t be a regret.\u201d This song also owns one of the best guitar solos on the entire album. Plus, why wouldn\u2019t you end an album with a line like \u201cThe best nights are the ones you forget in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beat the Drag is a refreshing take on what Hard Rock is today. And why is that? They don\u2019t take themselves seriously. They are in it to entertain you. That\u2019s what music SHOULD do, and What\u2019s Your Damage<\/em> does it in spades.<\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nTrev-guitars and vocals
\nRyan-bass
\nBo-drums<\/p>\n

Track listing:
\n1. What’s Your Damage?
\n2. Coming Down Forever
\n3. Split-Second Smile
\n4. Heroine
\n5. The Wasteland
\n6. Insignificant Other
\n7. Mistakes Were Made
\n8. Punkthetic
\n9. Thrush
\n10. Penny Black
\n11. The Best Nights<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/beatthedrag.bandcamp.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.1\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller – Managing Editor – Screaming out of Hollywood is a new Rock band called Beat the Drag. Their debut full-length, What\u2019s Your Damage, is chock-a-block full of snarky lyrics, biting social commentary, […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":49553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12394],"tags":[11194,2317,1103,11273],"class_list":{"0":"post-49551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2015","8":"tag-beat-the-drag","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-hard-rock","11":"tag-whats-your-damage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}