Halo Friendlies
Get Real
Tooth & Nail
Things are definitely looking up for all-female punk-popsters Halo Friendlies: Following last year’s performance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this summer saw them playing Warped for their second straight year. This sophomore album, their first for Tooth & Nail, should drive home the point, with its 11 infectious, feel-good anthems and its single quietly strummed ballad.
Kim Shattuck from The Muffs produced this, which may give you a clue about the unabashed and unrelenting energy on display, but its the band’s performances that occupy center stage throughout, all spot-on abrasive pop with a punk’s heart. From the opening, choppy “Sellout,” to the strutting “Just Like You” and the skate punk of “Don’t Let Me Down,” there’s hardly a weak moment on here, with Halo Friendlies coming across like a Bangles meeting Foo Fighters, or Cheap Trick swapping tunes with Rancid.
Halo Friendlies haven’t made a profound or imaginative album, by any stretch of the imagination. This is, however, an album of hook-ridden and incessantly catchy punk-pop that doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not, and comes out looking all the better for it. Get real, indeed. Good stuff.
Tooth & Nail Records: http://www.toothandnail.com
