The Takeover UK: New Album, Hotel Utah Tonight

Okay, we'll admit it. We're suckers for catchy guitar rock. The bottom line is that if you combine sweet riffs, snarky lyrics about love, and a solid dose of garage influence, it's pretty tough to go wrong. The thing is, it seems that it's inordinately difficult to get the right balance to make it work. There are lots of bands out there that are taking the pieces, putting them together, and yet it somehow doesn't add up. We're pleased to report that for The Takeover UK, it's adding up just about perfectly.

The Pittsburgh band just released their new record Running With The Wasters last week on Rykodisc records, and it's been in heavy rotation here at HAD all week. The record is just about as close as you can get to guitar pop perfection. Each song is full of painfully catchy riffs and choruses, and the album flows so continuously that it blows by before you know it. Even more impressive is that despite the catchy accessiblity and fast play time, the record begs for you to listen again as soon as it's finished. It's that good.

Now, it is worth saying that this record isn't exactly breaking any creative boundries. It's definitely a work of straight shooting rock and roll, and it wears its influences firmly on its sleeve. Between the handclaps, singalong choruses, and crunchy guitars its clearly the product of a band that is well schooled on the wonders of garage rock from both sides of the Atlantic. At various times the band recalls rock bands from the Stones to the Libertines, and everything in between. That being said, they manage to use these influences to their advantage to create a record that sounds immediately familiar, but also carves out its own distinct persona and sound.

We got hooked on this record listening to a free album stream at Spinner, and immediately went to go pick it up. Needless to say, we're pretty stoked for this band, and it's definitely our latest fave. Given that, we were psyched that the band is touring this spring in support of the record (along with Gliss), and that they'll be at Hotel Utah tonight! In all honesty, it's worth getting there for both bands. We've been digging the Gliss record, Devotion Implosion, as well. Although their heavy shoegazing vibe didn't rope us in quite as much, they've got a solid sound and it'll be interesting to hear how it plays out live.

mp3: The Takeover UK - Distant Shores
mp3: Gliss - Beauty

The Takeover UK / Gliss Spring Dates 2009
3/31/09 San Francisco CA Hotel Utah
4/02/09 Portland OR East End
4/04/09 Eugene OR Sam Bond's Garage
4/05/09 Seattle WA El Corazon
4/06/09 Spokane WA BLVD
4/07/09 Boise ID Bouquet
4/08/09 Denver CO Soiled Dove
4/09/09 Davenport IA Redstone Room
4/10/09 Lincoln NE Box Awesome
4/11/09 Chicago IL Beat Kitchen (early show)
4/13/09 Lawrence KS The Jackpot
4/14/09 St. Louis MO The Firebird
4/17/09 Pittsburgh PA Brillo Box
4/18/09 Nashville TN The French Quarter Cafe
4/20/09 Atlanta GA Drunken Unicorn
4/25/09 Hiram OH Hiram College *Takeover UK only
4/28/09 Chapel Hill NC Local 506
4/30/09 Richmond VA The Camel
5/1/09 Thomas WV The Purple Fiddle
5/4/09 NY NY Mercury Lounge
5/5/09 Philadelphia PA The Khyber
5/6/09 Brooklyn NY Union Hall
5/8/08 Hartford CT The Warehouse