Punishment Cookie

Hey, remember Chris Blasucci? Well, for those who don't, he's the handsome fellow who taught guitar, drums and trumpet at Solebury School for many years. In 2007, he wrote a song that he and I played on a CD I produced. It's one of the only ones that I can still listen to. Anyway, I think he knew that the song was too good to just play once, so he saved it, and when he formed a new band called Hair Rocket, he rearranged it for his killer new four piece. They released an EP and then started prepping a full length, which after some serious crowd funding, is done. And now, you can buy it here. Chris is, to quote the late Jim Rowland, a font of creativity and I'd be grateful to you if you bought this record to make sure he can keep expressing himself and playing music, which is his true love. Watching Chris play is watching someone in the throes of passion, you can tell by looking at him that he wouldn't trade places with anyone. I can't tell you how happy I am for him that he's released this album and seems to be teetering on the brink of being able to do this comfortably for a long time. Please, please, please support Hair Rocket!

The record is a brash, bluesy, lo-fi rock jolt that's loaded with hooks and seething guitar. To pick but three of my favourite songs, "Hair Rocket" sounds like Wire playing The Feelies, "Ok Alright" is a paranoid barnburner with an unforgettable wordless chorus, "Imagining" is sweet but persistent. It has the intensity and immediacy of other Philadelphia bands like Laguardia or Pepper's Ghost, but Blasucci has a confident enough voice that he'll outlast them and make a lasting impression. His debut record has a sound simultaneously solid and loose and I've been listening almost non-stop since I got it.