‘Sing Your Heart Out Loud’, Hang Tight Records (February 21st 2011), is a big step towards proving that British pop-punk is horrifically underrated. Bands from across the country have come together to create a compilation album stamped with the trademark epic beat downs and explosive gang shouts that rival those of stateside pop-punk bands.
Hang Tight Records formed in December of last year to release Me vs Hero's full length ‘Days That Shape Our Lives’ on vinyl. Since then the label has found more and more bands that represent the thriving scene of pop-punk in Britain.
“I really started working with the bands on the compilation from December,” Says Joe Hurst of Hang Tight Records, “but it took about a month to collate and to get the band total up to twenty. There is so much talent in the UK that gets over looked by promoters and other labels. I want to show people that us boys and girls in the UK can do as good as the guys in the states can!”
The album is dowsed in influence from the likes of Four Year Strong, Deaf Havana and Hit The Lights, with the same lively energy shining through on every track. It’s not surprising considering that most of these bands have supported the big guns of pop-punk in recent months.
Leicester’s own, We’re Not Worthy, sit midway in the compilation with ‘Make Mine a Double’, a song which has such a catchy chorus that it is near impossible to not get hooked, jump around and scream along (three things the crowd will definitely be doing at Lock 42 when the band support The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus on March 17th).
Dublin’s Storyboard (who have signed to Hang Tight records since the compilations release) and Young Wolves, stand up for the Irish in their contributions which blow others out of the water. Both have managed to keep the upbeat happiness that makes pop-punk what it is whilst including a depth, meaning and emotion to their lyrics which helps them to stand out. Together on this album they prove that Ireland’s pop-punk scene is growing into a beat down fuelled monster. Watch that space.
Next Stop Atlanta’s Georgia Peters is a breath of fresh air in a vastly male dominated genre. ‘I’ll Catch Fire’ is one of the most attention grabbing tracks of the album with a guitar riff that you really will not get out of your head and a gang shout to be proud of. It’s bands like this, Paramore, Mimi Soya and We Are The In Crowd that are campaigning for the ladies, and they’re doing a remarkable job of it.
British pop-punk is a force to be reckoned with, and it’s only getting bigger by the second. Hurst hopes that “the kids listening to the compilation will find their new favourite band, maybe they will buy a shirt, EP or go to a show,” and your life will be brighter for it! Pop-punk is not dead!
‘Sing Your Heart Out Loud’ is available to download for just £1 from http://hangtightrecords.bandcamp.com NOW!
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