Review: Waltham (Waltham)

Last week, I spent some time listening to the Rock and Roll Geek Show Indie Cast. One of the featured bands was Waltham, a band named after their hometown in Massachusetts. Michael, if I recall correctly, played two songs - Cheryl (come and take a ride), and Hopeless, which led me to the band's website to order their CD.

I've always thought that a band gets named after a town on accident - somebody forgets to write "Effervescent Puppies" where it says "Band namee", but does write "Boston" for their home town, the DJ misreads the sheet, and a rock-and-roll mega-group is born. You've got to think that there are groups out there named "Cleveland" or "Tampa" that are waiting patiently for their name choice to bear fruit...

Waltham has a somewhat retro sound - if you listened to Rick Springfield when you were younger, you will find a lot of similarities here. That's a good thing in my book - they're doing something different than a lot of what's coming out these days, though there's at least a bit of Jimmy Eat World here.

The songs range from good to better than good. Eschewing the traditional rock-and-roll troika of sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, Waltham writes songs about women. In fact, with the exception of one song about... well, no, without exception, all the songs on their debut CD are about women, following the all-to familiar themes of "I want the girl I can't have", "Talking to groupies is all part of being in a band", and "Yeah, I'm in a band. Hey, I'll write a song about you"...

If you don't mind the somewhat repetitive lyrics, there's a lot to like in the sound and the harmonies. There are a few samples on the website linked above.