Self-released, 17 December 2020
Hollywood Blondes give up a demos collection of goodtime punk rock.
Hollywood Blondes, of Youngstown, Ohio, played some goodtime punk rock. A Ramonescore band at heart, they were active between 2006 and 2013 and left scant evidence of their existence, only releasing an EP (15 Minutes of Lame). Though they started putting together a full length, nothing came of it and the band stopped before finishing it. Really, from what I can tell, the Hollywood Blondes biggest claim to fame is Teenage Bottlerocket covering their song “Back And Forth” on the Stealing The Covers record. Demos, a newly released collection, puts together four 15 Minutes of Lame songs and one song from the Connect Four Compilation.
The songs on Demos are all pretty typical Ramones-y pop punk, but at only 5 songs, they don’t wear out their welcome. The first two songs really hooked me and refused to let go. Lead-off “Know It All” is all buzzing shuffling electric guitar, catchy vocal cadences and melodies, and a sort of ringing (almost bell-like) lead guitar that sounds great, while follow-up “Tina Is A Headcase” has a guitar riff that sort of reminds me of “Beat On The Brat” and drums that sound a little trashed and pretty spot-on. And the vocal hook (especially the “whoa-oh-oh”) on the chorus sticks around for a while. The aforementioned “Back And Forth” has a persistent lead guitar and some simple Ramones-like drums (complete with the 8th notes) and ends up okay. It’s pretty decent, but I don’t like it quite as much as the first couple.
From there, Hollywood Blondes close things out with a bit of variation. The rather absurd “Shyra’s Not Shy” goes by a little faster than the others, but still plays with the same cool guitar tone that comes up throughout. And closer “Another Girl” goes a little more mid-tempo with the bass taking on a more prominent melodic lead and a pretty catchy “fell in love with another girl” chorus. And the crashes on the outro chorus set it off just right.
Hollywood Blondes Demos is a nice little collection. It’s rough and typical, but the songs are good and engaging. For me, it served as a nice sampler and they’ve got my interest piqued. So now I’m off to track down the 15 Minutes Of Lame EP.
Favorite song: “Tina Is A Headcase”
Favorite moment: ringing bell-like lead guitar on “Know It All”
Favorite whatever else: the guitar tone throughout lands just right
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
