Rock Kills Kid is a fun band... if you don't take them too seriously. Do you like early U2? The Cure? How about more current bands like The Killers and Jimmy Eat World? If you answered "yes" to at least two of those, then you might stand a chance of getting some enjoyment out of Rock Kills Kid, but I'll warn you now, it's mostly going to be on a superficial level. You know how it goes with some of these new bands - establish your sound, throw a few hit-bound singles early on the record, get in and play a quick-and-peppy 10 tracks, and get out. I can say a lot of good things about this band's full-length debut Are You Nervous?, but "a complex and sprawling masterwork" will not be one of them. It's tightly played ear candy, best suited for those who enjoy modern, radio-friendly rock inspired by the disco and new wave trends of the 70's and 80's. If you're looking for something deep, you can save yourself a little time and stop reading now.

You've probably heard variants of this band's story before. Young musician forms a band, they put out an EP and get a little bit of attention, but it all goes nowhere and the band disappears, only for the lead singer to reappear with a newly-formed incarnation of the band later, get signed to a label, and rack up a hit or two. That's basically how it went with Rock Kills Kid, who had an EP out in 2001 that apparently nobody knew about, and that didn't quite have the nostalgic gloss that makes Are You Nervous? charming even at its most inane moments. The sad part came in between, when lead singer Jeff Tucker, with no money and nowhere to go, ended up squatting in the Los Angeles studio his band had recorded in and living off of as little income as he could manage, while writing songs to keep himself from succumbing to the skull-crushing boredom of it all. Great, you may be thinking, this album contains the mad ramblings of a recluse. Well, sometimes it does. But not all of it. When it gets down to it, there's a slight dose of hope here, and even at the most depressing moments, the danceable music works as a curious counterpoint. Don't ask me to make much sense of how these elements work together - I just enjoy what I'm hearing.

None of this will be news to you if you've ever listened to The Killers, a well-known group who attained popularity by taking solid rock music with a phat rhythm section and sprinkling it with synthesizers and more than a dose of eccentricity. At first listen, Rock Kills Kid seemed to be "the poor man's Killers", and I kind of chuckled and thought, "Yeah, nice try". No way anything on this record was as solid as The Killers' best material. But then I realized, there's also no way that anything here is as bad as what The Killers can come up with on an off day - this became especially apparent after The Killers put out that soggy turd of a sophomore album that's been getting so much attention lately. You might say Rock Kills Kid doesn't have as flamboyant of a lead singer and therefore they've got less personality, but hell, I'll take a slightly depressed average Joe who can sing on-key over Brandon Flowers's increasingly annoying histrionics on most days. In any event, the synthesizers aren't as huge of an element here - the 70's and 80's influence comes more from the clean, shiny guitar tones and straight-ahead danceable rhythms that remind us of that era, only with better sonic fidelity. Plus Jeff Tucker knows how to sing about something other than kinky sex and drugs. So Rock Kills Kid might be followers, but there are times when followers manage to eclipse their leaders, in quality if not in popularity.

Paralyzed
Arms and legs in between
Caught inside a stupid dream
Look for her, but cannot see
I give up, I give up, there's no time to believe...
The record gets going with a strong single (presumably successful; I don't listen to radio much, but I did hear it on an episode of The Nine recently) that has an immediate "Hey, it's that song!" quality due to the slinky bass line from Shawn Dailey that starts it off. It's pretty much everything you'd expect to get from a streamlined, 80's-influenced dance-rock outfit, no major surprises, but it strikes an uneasy balance of fun and fear with its glittering synths, stabbing guitar lines, and its repetitive, hysterical chorus about being "Paralyzed, I'm paralyzed, stuck in the middle and I'm paralyzed." Nothing terribly deep here, just some paranoid lyrics about a "stupid dream" and being held back by everyone, but it's a spirited performance, and the "doo-doo-doo"s that ping-pong back and forth between speakers during Reed Calhoun's synth solo in the middle of the song are a nice touch.

Hideaway
Dead inside, you wait for something
Innocence lost so long ago
No one cares, so why should you?
Run away 'cause you're all alone...
The second song has more of a laid-back, sensitive vibe - not quite a power ballad, but not a rocker either. The bass underscores the first verse, where Jeff remarks, "Just 'cause you say it don't mean you mean it", and basically addresses someone who is hiding behind a facade. There's a basic "You'll never know what could have been" message to this, basically encouraging to get up off their lonesome butt and give life a try, but it's not terribly deep, so once again it's mostly the synths and the vocals that make this a solid performance. Drummer Mike Balboa also injects a lot of life into the chorus by doing some neat little rolls where he could have just plodded along with the mid-tempo beat. Rock Kills Kid hasn't said anything of great consequence so far, but they've managed to get the organic elements such as drums and bass to layer well with the more processed guitars and keyboards, so I give 'em points for a good wall of sound.

Midnight
Think deep, take myself to another scene
Anywhere else, but this empty room
Where every breath feels like my last
And I'll never move on...
This is probably my favorite track on the album. Another bumping bass riff leads us off, with an unabashedly disco-influenced drum rhythm kicking in not long after that - cymbals on every other beat and the rattling of what sounds like a cowbell really accentuate the rhythm track here. This Saturday Night Fever-esque setting is deceptive, though, since the disco ball is spinning and shining over one big, empty room, where Jeff Tucker apparently has nothing better to do than run around and bump into the walls and bleed, and write songs about it. And hey, that was pretty much his life for a while, but it's still pretty sad to hear it spelled out in the first verse of this song. The sheer danceability of the song and the depressed, hermit crab lyrics may be at odds, but darned if it's not one of the most fun and funky singles of the year. Everything works here, from the near-falsetto during the bridge to the cheesy processed strings that close out the song. Good thing, too, because if this were some sort of slow, droning grunge song with the exact same lyrics, I'd probably want to slit my wrists at the end of it.

Are You Nervous?
Now you know that it is for sure
How are you taking it?
Do you deserve this?
The title track is another semi-ballad that is formatted similar to "Hideaway", with fairly straightforward guitar and bass driving the verses, and a much more dense, drum-heavy chorus. This song seems to be all about laying blame, asking someone how they feel about the fact that some unspecified unpleasantness is all their fault. No relief comes in the chorus when it's promised that the sky will fall down on this person - Jeff's not in the mood to be nice at the moment, and yet his delivery of these words seems so sensitive. Maybe he's talking to himself, rehashing the reasons why he's in such a lonely place. That's all I can come up with.

Back to Life
I made plans to go away
And never to return
I did not think I'd feel this way
But this is what I've learned...
Injecting a little hope into the sour mood that has hung over the record so far is this simple, emotional tale of personal resurrection - an ascent from deep depression, if you will. The gentle pace of the song and the guitar part that rings out like a bell are enough to transport us back to one of those high school dances during the 80's, where you're the dorky, socially awkward boy with braces who is absolutely elated because the cutest girl in school is, for some strange reason, dancing with you. That's the vision I get when I hear this one - I need to have an imagination because the lyrics, while compellingly positive, aren't saying a whole heck of a lot. The main hook is just a few simple words, stretched out to maximize the sensitivity - "I came ba-a-a-ack, ba-a-a-ack, back to -li-i-i-i-ife." They key to this new lease on life is found in the bridge: "And now there's time to think of someone else besides myself." Such a simple statement, but when hopelessly depressed, I've actually found that getting out of your selfish little wallow and helping another person is actually pretty good medicine. Enjoy this one while it lasts, because this is the last ballad that you'll get from this album, it's all rocking out and dancing from this point on.

Life's a B!tch
They kick and scream like babies
Waiting, for someone to take them all away...
Sometimes you gotta give a song credit just for its kitsch value. That would be the case here, as the disco ball begins to spin again, the floor lights up, and some really peppy synthesizers get us in the mood for a song about how horrible life is. It's hard to tell whether they're being tongue-in-cheek with this one, but part of me has to giggle when Jeff Tucker, in a mock-depressed tone, tells us, "All God's children are evil, yeah, it sucks." Just the way he delivers that word "sucks" makes it sound like he's making fun of someone who is making a mountain out of a molehill. Questions about moral entropy aside, the song's really hot in places (like the wah-wah guitar parts) and a bit disjointed in others - the bridge about seeing one's face reflected in broken glass sounds like it was pasted in from a more thoughtful song, and I find myself wanting more explanation or fun chiding or something out of the verses and chorus before we get to the relatively banal chorus: "Life is a real b!tch, but we keep moving on." The way they deliver the b-word is half the fun, since I swear it sounds like they're singing "bish", which doesn't make any sense at all, and therefore I find amusement in singing it that way. Cheap thrills, perhaps, but it's an extremely catchy song, even if part of what makes it so memorable is the tee-hee factor because there's a "bad word" in the title.

Run Like Hell
So, don't hold back because of me
Be the things you wanna be
But you still want to stick around
Are you sure?
Well, we're two for two on mild swear words in song titles. But this track's a little more serious, and it's the most energetic rocker on the disc, with the guitar chords striking like lightning and the drum beats bouncing back and forth off of the walls. They did a very good job of creating a song that sounds like it's furiously running away from something. What's there to run from? Well, according to Jeff, it's him. I think he's talking to a girl, someone who is attached to him and is putting off making something of her life, and he's confident that one day she's gonna figure out what a waste her life will be if she spends it with him, so he's trying to tell her not to stick around on his account. I enjoy this song a great deal as the whole thing flies by - the only slight dissatisfaction is that the delivery of the words "you will run like hell" at the end of the chorus packs a little less punch than a phrase like that ought to. No biggie, though.

Don't Want to Stay
So now I go, and try to play the game
Give in and kill my sense of pride along the way...
I think this one is the album's weakest track. I have nothing against synthesized keyboards or rhythms, but something about this weird robot dance of a song feels a little out of place since absolutely nothing here feels organic. There's never a point where a real instruments kicks in and injects it with power, so there may be a strong beat and a catchy melody, but the effect seems dulled by every instrument in the band being filtered through an electronic effect. The lyrics are also doing nothing for me here, ratcheting up tension about whether Jeff should stay or go, but the situation he's facing isn't clear from context and it all boils down to the fact that he's too afraid to do anything. Too many easy rhymes and stock "I can't decide on anything" phrases eat up time here, so I find myself more annoyed than entertained by the infectious chorus.

Hope Song
The raindrops pour off the roof again
They fall down, down, down upon me
I won't let it get me down, there's something for me here
I'm gonna give it one more try...
Cheesy strings start this one off, but it soon takes off with a ripping synthesizer riff and another pulsating rhythm. This one's almost as fast and furious as "Run Like Hell", and it's probably the only other "happy" song on the album besides "Back to Life". The chorus, which states "I gave it all away, and I'm still standing" tells you pretty much all you need to know about the song's message - it's another of those new-lease-on-life things. While that may be a bit cliche (not to mention slightly out of place given the rest of the album's lyrics), it's easily overlooked, thanks to how tight the band is on this song, especially when they get to Sean Stopnik's frenetic guitar solo. It's a song that's easy to get totally swept away in until it ends in its final cymbal crash, as the swelling synth tone that follows leads into...

Raise Your Hands
You were always testing me
Just another game you play
Your eyes possessing me...
We come racing across the finish line with this final potshot at a cruel ex-lover, which has lead piano and guitar line that run through it much like Anberlin's take on The Cure's "Love Song". We're back to laying blame here, as Jeff accuses the girl of playing the control freak game, and basically asks her to raise her hands and admit that she derived some sort of sick pleasure from walking all over him. Yeah, happy thought to end the album on! And yet he sounds so hopeful as he sings it that it's easy to regard it as a feel-good song if you're not paying attention. This really shouldn't be the type of song that you end on, but when you're a young band with a 10-song album and you blew all two of your sensitive ballads in the first half, you're not left with much of a choice. I don't mind ending on an upbeat song, actually - this one's a lot of fun to listen to. It just doesn't work thematically.

As I said earlier, it's not like I'd expect a debut record from a young band who seems to be mostly around for the fun of it to have some sort of grand, unifying concept. This record is here to show their skill as a band, and while the type of music they play may be too glossy for certain rock aficionados, I think they're a tight outfit, and their sound is a delightful mix of musical muscle and electronic wizardry. It might be tough for them to keep their head above water in an era where there are too many danceable "The" bands to keep track of - nobody's gonna hear the new single from this band's second record and immediately go, "Oh, it's the new Rock Kills Kid song!" the first time out, because as fun as they are, they're not totally distinctive just yet. That could change in the future as the band matures, but for the love of God, guys, please don't try to "mature" the same way that The Killers did. Work on the lyrics a little more, maybe listen to some Anberlin or some of your classic 80's rock influences a little more for better ideas on how to flesh out what you're trying to say. But don't lose the fun, danceable edge. Otherwise I'm going to have to start calling you "Pebble Scrapes Middle-Aged Guy".

ALBUM WORTH:
Paralyzed $1.50
Hideaway $1
Midnight $1.50
Are You Nervous? $1
Back to Life $1.50
Life's a B!tch $1
Run Like Hell $1.50
Don't Want to Stay $.50
Hope Song $1.50
Raise Your Hands $1
TOTAL: $12

Band Members:
Jeff Tucker: Vocals, guitar
Sean Stopnik: Guitar
Shawn Dailey: Bass
Reed Calhoun: Keyboard, guitar
Mike Balboa: Drums

Website: http://www.rockkillskid.com

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving