Heave Media

When The Day Turns To Tub

Green Day and friends pay homage to the old school.

Foxboro Hot Tubs

Stop Drop and Roll

Released on Nov 30, -0001

In a recent e-mail to MTV News, Green Day confirmed that they are indeed the East Bay garage band Foxboro Hot Tubs. As Billie Joe Armstrong's vocals and the rhythm section of Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool are pretty easily identifiable, this piece of info is not exactly surprising. What is unexpected is how effectively they capture the tones and spirit of 60's guitar rock on Stop Drop and Roll. With guitarists Jason White (Green Day), Kevin Preston and multi-instrumentalist Jason Freese, FHT put together twelve tight 3-minute gems that faithfully follow the structures and formulas employed by 60's rock pioneers. In lesser hands, these tunes would come off as a lame attempt to cash in on the recent garage rock resurgence, but FHT do it with a wink and a nod and a thorough understanding of the source material.

The title cut - "Stop Drop and Roll" - comes out guns blazing, with a crashing Kinks-style riff, and a ripping Jason White solo Dave Davies would be proud of. "Mother Mary" kicks in with a "Can't Hurry Love" up-tempo groove and "bop bop ba-da-da-da" vocals that evoke The Jam (I'm aware they're not a 60's act). My only beef with this cut is the "ooh ooh" backing vocals that sound almost exactly like those on "Dearly Beloved" off of "American Idiot". They're even in the same key. "Ruby Room" reminded me a bit of "Bits & Pieces" by The Dave Clark 5 (featuring some great period-appropriate Farfisa organ vamping), while "Sally" owes a debt to The Monkees "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone". "Alligator" revisits Kinks territory, with the instantly recognizable ascending "You Really Got Me" riff, complete with the signature backing vocals. My personal favorite on the album is the Zombies-flavored "Dark Side of Night", in which Freese lays down some badass flute. Yes, flute. From a production standpoint, it's totally spot-on.

For Green Day fans, Stop Drop and Roll is definitely worth the time. You're not getting American Idiot part 2 by any means, but it rocks just as hard. In the aforementioned e-mail to MTV, Green Day explains that, “The Foxboro Hot Tubs were a place we used to sneak booze and chicks into late at night, but most of the time it was just 'dude soup.'” With this in mind, you know you're not getting heavy-duty socio-political commentary. Green Day just wanted to get with their buddies, have a few drinks, and bash out some garage pop on a break from their day job. With Dubya on his way out the door, I think they've earned the chance to relax for a minute.

Posted by Mike Greaney on Jun 11, 2008 @ 12:00 am