The Hard Way
Gig Seeker Pro

The Hard Way

Olympia, Washington, United States

Olympia, Washington, United States
Band Rock Pop

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"CD Review"

THE HARD WAY
Only If ... And Even Then

The Hard Way, a quartet from
Olympia, Washington, lay down
eleven pop rock nuggets, most in
three minute bite-size morsels.
“I Like Elephants,” with its
nonsensical title and ambling desert
sound would be at home on the
range with Tucson’s own Meat
Puppets. Off-key and off-kilter indie-
rock at its loopiest. The set takes off
with “Free,” its sing-along chorus
of “yeah - yeah - yeah” lifting you up
with the liberating lyrics, “I’m falling
away and I don’t care what you have
to say.” We all long for that runaway
kiss-off to the daily grind. Your
stress levels will melt away while
your self-image grows leaps and
bounds. Air guitar is a reasonable
response. At the midpoint of the
album, “Look Away” is a somewhat
ponderous ballad with a nice
George Harrison-era Eric Clapton
guitar line to carry you through.
Kind of like a pied piper swing out to
the sea. “The Bitch” does not bring
to mind a tarted-up Elton John, but
a bit of “Let It Bleed” Rolling Stones
with a groovy ebb and flow that’ll
make you want to hit the streets.
Working in the twilight crossover
of 70s arena rock to 80s grunge,
The Hard Way conjures a magic
blend of the best of both worlds.
Fittingly, they chucked out the
current digital crutches of ProTools
and AutoTune to record with two
inch analog tape and mix it up
proper on a big old board. Being
from the land of flannel in the
great upper northwest, the band
may be wary of any Nirvana
comparisons, but Scott Taylor’s
vocals, along with certain choice
guitar parts will definitely remind
you of Kurt Cobain. Not a bad
thing at all, there just must be
something in the water up there
that produces this particular
sequence of rock and roll DNA.
Check out the vintage iPod
docking station on the back
cover and let yourself drift back
to the glory days of alternative
rock and vinyl recordings.
- Pop Rocket Press - Prescott Arizona


Discography

Only If.. And Even Then - Released Oct 2008

Photos

Bio

Doing things the hard way since 2007.

Digital Recording and total editing and mixing automation, it makes recording easy right. Well, in the sprit of their name, The Hard Way's new record was recorded entirely to 2 inch tape and mixed the old fashioned way no automation, no software tools, just a giant mixer board, and a washing machine sized magnetic tape recorder, the Cadillac of its day. Harkening back to American rock/pop of the late seventies, "Only if and Even Then" is a journey through raw organic rock and hooky melodies. Like driving your uncle's big brown '73 mercury cougar back in time.