High School Rock
Artist: the Huntingtons
Label: Tooth and Nail records
Time: 16 tracks at 32mins.11secs.
Buzz-saw rock band the Huntingtons have done it again. With High
School Rock, that is, they have made another Ramones record, via some
Delaware dynamite. By the way, that is no put down, it is a tribute to
New York's finest punk rock band and what the Huntingtons do; no one does
it better. The Huntingtons are Mikey Huntington, vocals and bass; Cliffy
Huntington, guitar and vocals; Mikee Huntington, drums; and Bradley Huntington,
guitars and vocals. This is Brad's first recording as a full time Huntington,
and the band's first record on Tooth and Nail.
This bright record sounds great. Recorded in two weeks with Mass
Giorgini at the boards for the second time, the Huntingtons sprint through
these sixteen songs without a hitch, and, like their shows, without much
break either. One song leads into the next, for a continuous flow of molten
rock and roll. Like all Huntington records the lyrical subjects are high
school dances, relationships, girl friends, hanging out and being different.
Track seven is called "Jeannie Hates the Ramones," the singer is going
to have to leave his girl friend, Jeannie, because she hates his favorite
band, the Ramones. In fact, she makes fun of them and even coughs on his
records. Bye Jeannie, we can't have that on a Huntingtons record. There
is also a tribute song to Back to the Future called "1985", and
a couple of songs at the end of the record that even mention God--sort
of... "Jackie is an Atheist" is about a cool young girl that is into the
band, knows all the songs, and goes to all the shows, but won't change
her mind about her faith, no matter how much the guys talk to her. They
conclude "just give her some time". The last song is about Avi, a guy who
likes to dress in black, and make up, he kinda looks like a vampire, but
he's a real cool guy:
'cuz he knows God and all that stuff...
He just likes to get a rise out of the normal folks,
he's just the same as you and me under those silly
jokes.
The Huntingtons are tight, rockin' fun. For the band's fourth full
length album, the musical recipe seems to be two bags of Ramones, 1 ½
cups of One Bad Pig, with a pinch of beach music, ala New York City, thrown
in. If you like the sound of that, you'll like the Huntingtons's,
High School Rock.
By Tony LaFianza (8/14/98)
