Hot Water Music
A FLIGHT AND A CRASH
(EPITAPH)

Florida’s Hot Water Music are a well-oiled punk-rock machine. And on their debut for the SoCal punk-rock stronghold Epitaph, they offer enough in the way of hooks and texture to please punk-pop fans without jettisoning the bursts of noise and overall heaviness that helped them maintain their underground cred. The vocals of singer-guitarists Chuck Ragan and Christ Wollard are gruff yet gratifyingly melodic, and their lyrics have an earnest, confessional quality that should satisfy most emocore devotees. But A Flight and a Crash doesn’t lend itself to easy or tidy categorization. Even in the relatively narrow-casted realm of punk rock, it has the breadth and stylistic depth to appeal to a wide range of listeners. And it’s evidence that, even though Hot Water Music have been kicking around since ’96, they’ve yet to plateau.

(Hot Water Music perform this Tuesday, August 28, at the Worcester Palladium as part of the Plea for Peace tour with Alkaline Trio, Cave In, Thrice, Selby Tigers, Mike Park, and the Eyeliners. Call 800-477-6849.)

Issue Date: August 23 - 30, 2001