AC/DC famously sang that "It's a Long Way to the Top if You wanna Rock & Roll," but, given the new millennium's harsh music business realities, most bands don't even have the luxury of time to start the climb! Instead, most careers are over before they've properly begun and "the top" is simply beyond reach, unless you happen to own a good sampler and/or have a Swedish pop producer in your corner. Needless to say, neither one was on hand to help the cause of once promising Austin, Texas rockers Young Heart Attack, whose excellent, justifiably hyped debut album pretty much fizzled out on arrival, without making even a dent on the sales charts or troubling radio. The latter may explain why the band's four-year-in-the-making sophomore album, 2008's cleverly named Rock and Awe, wound up released on an imprint called Not on Your Radio, but it doesn't explain the persistent sense of exuberance found in these songs, in spite of the disillusions detailed above. They may not always match the white-knuckle intensity of that aforementioned debut (well, the title track's frantic, electrified orgasm sure does), but modern spins on vintage rock tricks like "Hell on Earth" and "Welcome to My World" are nevertheless conjured with ease, as are alt-rock-infused nuggets like "Runaway" and "Vacant Love." Then, showing newfound eclecticism, "I Love This Town" pokes fun at Austin's SXSW Festival and its illusory star-making power (much like the sober reality, the song is pretty dull); "Drums of Revolution" feels like the bastard offspring of.38 Special's "Hold on Loosely" (and still it works!), while the slow-burning blues-rock of "Jump in the Picture" finds YHA reciting a loving roll call of all things classic rock, from Zeppelin lyrics to AC/DC album titles and so on. Finally, one key influence that may get lost amid this blue-collar attitude is that of '70s glam rock matriarch Suzi Quatro, whose strident vocals certainly have their new millennium counterpart in YHA's Jennifer Stephens, and yield the most obvious tribute on the big clap-and-chant choruses of "Munki." In fact, as with Young Heart Attack's debut, the interplay between Stephens and co-lead-vocalist Chris Hodge guarantee something truly unique in contrast to the band's willfully traditionalist philosophies, and one can only hope that their "long way to the top" doesn't end here, whatever the odds.
© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo