Dirty, sleazy and good. Three words that sum up Tickets There’s highly professional opinion of House of Dolls. We found these guys days ago but haven’t been able to properly sit down and give them the dedicated focus they deserve from us. Now, with the wind in our hair, the sweat on our brow and a taste of last night’s Guinness on our breath, it’s time.
As usual, we haven’t seen them live or heard their album/EP wot-eva!
Opening tune, Before She Walks is like something straight out of the late eighties Brit alt rock scene. It’s got that relaxed, psychedelic ambiance but enough guitars and up-temo-ness to ensure it doesn’t send you to sleep if you’re having a few puffs. It’s well written, well played and enjoyable. Let the MySpace Review begin!
Second track, Gimme Some Glory is alot sharper. The singer’s voice is great and the band sound right. It’s not the craziest mother f**ker on the planet, but combined with Before She Walks, it’s more than enough reason to pick up their album. Light Starts to Fade begins like a forgotten Joy Division B-Side. The vocals are much rockier, the song’s explosive and filled with overtones of the impending ‘danger’ Tickets There loves so much. One thing we’d like to see changed is the guitar leads. Musically they’re damn good, so why not turn them up a few notches and let them make their mark? This is a demo rather than a real recording but that’s the only thing TT would want to see changed.
Vampire Blues starts like a Bruce Springsteen meets U2 cover from the eighties until the keyboards and guitars come tumbling in. I cannot for the life of me figure out who the vocals remind me of. Feck it, pretty decent song with a great upbeat chorus. Lots of guitars, lots of catchiness, lots of love for House of Dolls from Tickets There.
On Collider, the lads really unleash their hard rock side. It’s faster, bleaker, punk rock stomping down the door making you pogo like a mad man. The guitars rampage through the track, only stopping to let the lead spiral off into a mesh of blues rock tangents. This is the kind of song we like, expect the vocals get pretty annoying about three minutes in. It’s only a demo but they need to be replaced with words or left out altogether (is it the singer or an escaped sheep with delusions of a career in recording? Hell, If Babe can do it, that sheep can do it). Also, there’s too much space in the final minute and a half with nothing to fill the void. If it gets abit of a cleanup, this will be a serious track. So good, Humazi will be kicking themselves they didn’t kill House of Dolls and steal it.
Second last track, Suicidal Jesus starts well. Guitars revving u, drums just waiting for their change to have at it, throbbing bass lines and the crash, yes!! This is what we want to hear. The riff is very similar to the The Sex Pistols version of Stepping Stone but the song is taken in another direction. This is where the vocal styles really sound their best. The verse is a mix of punk, urban rock and more punk. Imagine Joey Rammone signing with Ash (for lack of a better example) and you’ll get there. The day is saved once again and Tickets There is happy.
Finally we come to the last track of their playlist, Prostitutes and it’s probably one of our favorites. The vocals are back to the muffled, gritty styles of Light Starts to Fade and the guitar riff is as rough n ready as anything we’ve heard. In some ways it sounds similar to The Future Kings of Spain but they’ve added a nice punk sound to the mix that works well.
There were a few different tracks up the other day and thankfully they’ve removed the one song we really hated, Slowly Coming Down. What they’ve left is an excellent representation of what could become one of Irelands best rock bands of the decade. They may need to pick up the pace of a few tracks to keep it exciting but for now; they’re more than ok in our books.
Check out their MySpace now by Clicking Here (and welcome to the first review on Tickets There .com)
Earlier this year, House of Dolls asked their fans to help them make a record through a :fund:it campaign. Showing the DIY spirit is alive and well (with a little help from investors – Ed.) the band have finally completed and released their debut album, ‘Welcome To The Department of Nuclear Medicine’. Twelve songs that delve into the band’s defining melancholic, alt-rock core and further explores that infectious psychedelic sound first heard on ‘Gimmie Some Glory’ and ‘Before She Wakes’.
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