Laptop Punk Records, 26 October 2020
The Hathaways play things tight and fast and sticky.
Japan’s The Hathaways have a new record out on Laptop Punk Records. Called I’m The One Playing Dragon Quest, the five song EP rips front to back and has quickly taken a place alongside my favorite things of 2020. There’s some real Ramones worship here, but with enough tricks and caffeine to go next level. No pure imitations here, just goodness.
The first couple Dragon Quest songs set the tone. Opener “Gimme Drugs” is maybe my favorite on here (though that’s tough to say, as so many of these are top notch). It’s fast and excitable and has one of the catchiest guitar riffs I’ve heard on a pop punk song all year. The vocal hooks are earworms with some great melodies and some awesome backing vocals. Even the outro is pure addictive sugar. The follow up and title track pretty much follows suit. “I’m The One Playing Dragon Quest” works in some stellar lead guitar and a chorus that destroys so hard it will stay with you long after the song ends. It’s a tremendous one-two punch to lead things off.
Dragon Quest tears faces off on the back end, too. “Out Of Tune” digs into some hyperspeed hooks and has some of my favorite lead guitar anywhere on Dragon Quest. The vocal melodies sound great again and I love the “don’t know what to do” outro. And “Spacenoid” has a bonkers cool guitar riff that has a bit of a surfy feel to it, but the bass kind of sets this one off for me. Again, it’s catchy like crazy. The melody sticks just right and everything sounds so tight and nailed down. I love it. Closer “(Anyway) She Is The One For Me” is the most basic song on here for me. It’s catchy and the lead guitar is way cool going into the verse each time. It just doesn’t land quite so hard as the rest of this stuff. Still good, the others are just so great.
I’m The One Playing Dragon Quest pretty much blows me away. 2020 has kicked out a bunch of great music, but I’m kind of surprised at how hard this one has hit. I’d never heard of The Hathaways prior to this. Now I need to go hunting and find any Hathaways stuff I can. Highly recommended.
Favorite song: “Gimme Drugs”
Favorite moment: surfy guitar riff on “Spacenoid”
Favorite whatever else: “I’m The One Playing Dragon Quest” is an awesome song title
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
