The Plus Ones/The Travoltas – Going Dutch
(Asian Man)

This is a fun little release for all fans of the power-pop and/or pop-punk genres. (Is there a difference?) Asian Man Records and Coldfront Records have combined forces to bring us 3 tracks from San Francisco’s The Plus Ones, and 3 tracks from The Travoltas, who, oddly enough, hail from The Netherlands (thus giving the oh-so-clever title of this EP). It seems that John Travolta (along with many other washed up actors such as David Hasslehoff) still has a dedicated following over in Europe. Weird.

I must say that although this EP is short, it’s also pretty damn sweet.

The Plus Ones songs play exactly like something you would expect to hear on Lookout! Records. The Queers, Pansy Division, and The Groovie Ghoulies all come to mind immediately when hearing these catchy teen anthems. (The involvement of an ex-member of Mr. T Experience may have something to do with this.) The music is bouncy and energetic, and yet they also show a certain amount of restraint with their stripped down guitar sound. The emphasis is on the vocal harmonies as opposed to the guitar riffs, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, considering that they sing quite well. It just means that this band will make you want to politely nod your head to the music, as opposed to say, beating the crap out of the person beside you.

As enjoyable as The Plus Ones’ tracks are, The Travoltas easily upstage them on this record. Both bands clearly come from the same school of power pop, but The Travoltas are much more straightforward in their delivery. They rock faster and harder than The Plus Ones, filling in the gaps with searing guitars and a thundering rhythm section. Of course, they also have plenty of their own catchy Beach Boys-esque vocal melodies to hook you as well.

There is one inexplicable detail regarding The Travoltas’ half of the album however. They seem to have a kidnapped a member of The Hanson Brothers to do the Ramones-style count-ins for two of their songs. I’m not exactly sure how one goes about kidnapping a member of The Hanson Brothers, but I do know that you’d have to be a pretty tough customer in order to do it.

I guess it just goes to show that The Travoltas are bad ass. And you know what else? This little EP is bad ass too. Clap your hands, nod your head and do whatever else you gotta do to get into this record. It may be only 15 minutes long, but hey, that’s 15 minutes of rock that you don’t want to pass up. — Sean