This group of high school friends began their career in the 1990s playing classic rock covers in around their hometown base of Hughson, CA. By the year 2000, Flying Blind was playing originals, and the alt-rock quintet's major-label debut release, Push, became a Top Five-selling album in the California Central Valley area almost immediately, buoyed on by the punk rock/doo wop-styled single "Smokescreen," a number which garnered top praise and heavy local radio rotation. That song, and all the others on Push, are basic, good old fashioned rock & roll with solid energy, delivered purely and directly. Tunes are based around the essential elements of universal emotions, rushing guitars, rhythmic drums, and earnest harmonies. Other tracks on Push that are equally melodic and riffing include the opener, "Pony," the XTC-ish "Chocolate Covered Secrets," and "Leave," as well as the power pop thrust of the moving and surreal "Paralyzed." What makes Push such an interesting listen is the way Matt Brown's well-expressed vocals meld with the rest of the band to make a passionate wall of groovy sound, all at once bouncy and tender, but never silly or maudlin. This is best demonstrated in the funk rock track "Work So Hard" and the heart-torn-to-shreds rendering of "Love Konnection." Though Push won't earn too many high points for originality, it deserves high marks alone for delivering on its promise to rock. ~ Roxanne Blanford