{"id":57114,"date":"2018-04-04T19:55:43","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T00:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=57114"},"modified":"2018-04-04T19:55:43","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T00:55:43","slug":"ryan-hamilton-and-the-traitors-traitors-club-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2018\/ryan-hamilton-and-the-traitors-traitors-club-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Hamilton and The Traitors | Traitors Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller<\/span>
\n\u2014 Managing Editor \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"If you don’t know Ryan Hamilton, he was the dude who was in the little-known but uber-talented band People on Vacation with Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick. Knowing that, what you can expect from Hamilton is the catchiest melodies you can gnaw on, somewhat snarky lyrics but in the case of his own band, Ryan Hamilton and The Traitors, it’s all a bit more expansive.<\/p>\n

The band also features on bass Rob Laney, who, besides being the Bulletboys European touring bassist for a bit, was also in the decidedly underrated Pop Punk band Teenage Casket Company and who has done his own thing with his brilliant Straight to Video<\/em> releases, which one of those albums features Reddick singing Soul Asylum’s \u201cMisery.\u201d Looks like an oval was drawn before we even came full circle, kids \u2026<\/p>\n

The new EP begins with \u201cI’m So Glad,\u201d a melifluous and soothing ode to youth. \u201cI was young and dumb but I never recovered.\u201d That’s sort of all of us. Hamilton has an innocent vocal ability, somehow even less severe than Reddick; you’d have to take a cheese grater to his vocal chords to give him some grit. (Or maybe buy him 60 shots of Wild Turkey, whatevs \u2026)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ghost of James Dean,\u201d at least in the guitar passages, sounds more like Bowling for Soup. That’s not bad. Boo-hoo if the gents go platinum; what a travesty. This really has a sort of Lit, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte vibe, but it’s not forced. This is Hamilton being honest; who cares if he wears his influences on his sleeve. So do cutters when they pull their sleeves back.<\/p>\n

\u201cStranger Across the Street\u201d is by far the strongest song on the release. That’s because Hamilton got rid of the glitz and the niceties and channels Social Distortion. Yes, it’s still a song dripping with melody, but when he sings, \u201cI want a girl, but I want who’s scary,\u201d you believe him. The drumming is frantic and perfect, it’s a short and sonic concussion, and if he learns to mix it up against songs like \u201cI’m So Glad,\u201d he’s well on his way.<\/p>\n

It all ends on \u201cSay My Name,\u201d a cocky anthem that just seemingly knowing Hamilton from his YouTube videos, his interviews, his concert clips and social media posts \u2026 he’s not really that cocky. \u201cGot me feeling so good that I almost feel bad \u2026 not quite!\u201d is pretty funny, though.<\/p>\n

All in all, if you like Modern Rock, you’d be a bit daft not to pick this up. It’s everything good about Modern Rock and it doesn’t have any of the faults. Knowing he’s likely a Butch Walker fan, though, next go around, maybe diving into the darkness with a track akin to \u201cJoan\u201d wouldn’t hurt. Unless he’s just super happy all the time, and then good for him \u2026 and good for us!<\/p>\n

Genre: Rock<\/p>\n

Line-up:
\nRyan Hamilton – lead vocals, guitar
\nRob Laney – bass, backing vocals
\nOther musicians<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\nI\u2019m So Glad
\nThe Ghost of James Dean
\nBrand New Man
\nSame Page
\nSick and Tired
\nStranger Across the Street
\nSay My Name<\/p>\n

Label: Independent<\/p>\n

Online: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RyanHamiltonandTheTraitors<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 8 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Derric Miller \u2014 Managing Editor \u2014 If you don’t know Ryan Hamilton, he was the dude who was in the little-known but uber-talented band People on Vacation with Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick. Knowing […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15129],"tags":[12354,14388,14389,14386,14387],"class_list":{"0":"post-57114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2018","8":"tag-music-review","9":"tag-rob-laney","10":"tag-ryan-hamilton","11":"tag-ryan-hamilton-and-the-traitors","12":"tag-traitors-club"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57114","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=57114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}