by antiGUY

Handsome Devil is the latest band to emerge out of the Orange County, California music scene. While Orange County is an upper middle class suburban sprawl of track homes, strip malls, freeways filled with SUV's and BMW's as well as the home of Disneyland, it's spawned more than it's fair share of rock stars including The Offspring, Lit, Sugar Ray, Zebrahead, No Doubt and punk legends Social Distortion. 

Musically Handsome Devil is what you get if you mixed The Offspring with Lit and The Living End. While posers like Blink-182 have given the burgeoning punk-pop scene a bad name, Handsome Devil seem poised to rescue the genre from the over popification it has received from the likes of Blink-182. Handsome Devil does deliver some power-pop driven melodies but their music has a punky hard edge that distinguishes the band from other bands that blend power-pop and punk.  They follow more in the tradition of All then Greenday, with a firm focus on punk while still managing to present enough hooks to make the music a shoe-in for top40 radio airplay. 

You hear tales of overnight success stories in the music business, most times these stories involve a band that had been breaking their butts on the club scene for years before they got their shot at the big leagues. Not so with Handsome Devil. Only seven months passed between the time of their inception and them signing on the dotted line with Dirty Martini/RCA Records. From the very start they began to generate a buzz on the local Orange County scene, gaining the attention of O.C. veterans like No Doubt and Social Distortion. But it was when Jeremy Popoff of Lit heard the band they began their meteoric rise to stardom. "The first time I heard this band, I was blown away," says Jeremy. "I told Danny that we had to work together."  Once Jeremy got off the road with Lit the ball began rolling and within no time he had signed the group to Lit's RCA in-print Dirty Martini Records and entered the studio with the band where he co-produced their debut album with Ed Stasium (Ramones, Smithereens.) 

Together they struck gold, as this CD is a collection of songs just crying out to become hits. While there isn't a "filler" track in the bunch some songs are more equal than others with standouts including "Sorry Charlie", "Tie Me Up", "Everything", "Back in Action" and "Barbecue". Then again, I've listened to this disc a couple dozen times so far and have yet to push the fast-forward button. In other words, it's all good. 

To truly appreciate Handsome Devil you really have to see them in action in front of an audience. I was on hand recently at the legendary Roxy Theatre in Hollywood where Handsome Devil opened up for their friends and mentors Lit. From the first moment lead vocalist/guitarist Danny Walker walked on stage with his cohorts it was sure pandemonium. Keith Morgan attacked the drums with a savage intensity yet he never missed a beat. Billie Stevens held dominance over his side of the stage as he rocked through the set with arms wailing on his six-string. Darren Roberts on stage doesn't appear content with the typical "in the background" stance most bass player take, he worked the audience to full effect during every song. Playing live they do have a much finer focus on their punk roots than on the CD and that translates into an explosive high-energy performance from the band. They have no need for pyrotechnics or fancy stage props; they held the standing room only audience captive with their performance and music. Which is really quite amazing considering that their album had only been released a few days before, so it is safe to bet that at least half of the audience had never heard them before, but that didn't stop Handsome Devil from making the room rock from top to bottom. Surely, they walked away with quite a few newfound fans that night. 

Ah but let's get back to the album. 

"We knew what we were aiming for," says frontman Danny Walker. "We wanted our record to sound huge and, at the same time, still have the raw energy of our live show." Did they succeed?  While nothing can compare to the energy of a live performance, Handsome Devil did in fact pack a little extra something into the album that does capture a bit of the "lightning in jar" energy of their live performance. Co-producer Jeremy Popoff explains how they captured that raw energy in the studio, "When there's a sense of urgency in the studio, a certain element of excitement is generated, and it comes across on tape," says Jeremy. "That's exactly what happened here."

What else can I say,"Love & Kisses From the Underground" is a bombastic mix of guitars and vocal hooks presented in well crafted songs that go far beyond the call of duty to bring some respect back to the "punk-pop" scene by injecting it with a large measure of credibility it has been missing over the past few years. Handsome Devil is definitely a band that deserves the attention of the record buying public.
 
 

Handsome Devil � Love & Kisses From the Underground
Label: Dirty Martini / RCA
Rating: