Hello, hello.
Music changes, as does the weather. While it's getting slightly cooler here, that tinge of fall coming into the air, I find myself unintentionally flashing back to my high school years and the music I listened to as classes resumed. I recall the feeling of crisp fall air as I pulled in to the practice field for soccer, playing my tunes loudly to get myself geared up to run for far too long. One band I adored, who never got proper recognition for their excellent music, was Fenix Tx.
Originally named River Fenix, the group had to amend their name after threats from the Fenix estate. Their first full release, a self-titled album propelled by the single 'All My Fault', was a middling affair that I loved, warts and all. The songs were kinda punky, but a little more straight forward than anything else I was listening to at the time. When I saw their sophomore effort in the bin at the music shop I frequented (yes, that was still a thing, just a decade ago) I picked it up automatically. Titled Lechuza, this release saw the band go harder and faster, their songwriting developing further and as a result, rocked harder than their first release.
The thing about Fenix Tx, and Lechuza as a whole, is that the band never really was much of a pop-punk outfit. You'd see that title thrown at, say Blink 182 or Green Day, but there was a harder edge to Fenix Tx, just a tad more grit to their writing and production that gave the group a heavier, more serious feel. Sure, you could have a poppy and pop-culture focused album opener like 'Phoebe Cates' to hook in the casual listener, but it gives way to the fantastic Foo Fighters-aping 'Katie W.' With it's clean/soft, hard/loud dynamics it could easily have been an outtake from The Foo's spectacular The Colour & The Shape. Here, though, it stands out among the tracks as a reason not to dismiss Fenix Tx as just another pop punk band from the turn of the millennium. Further illustrating their growth and divergence from under the feet of their forbearers, the next track, the single 'Threesome', also makes deft use of tempo changes and stuttering riffs. When the chorus whips in with singer Will Salazar wailing "Let's try this all again, only faster now!" it works on a couple levels. It's a great song and was a natural choice for a single.
Another inspired song that is more the Foo Fighters vein than (ugh) New Found Glory is the grand and sweeping alt-rock 'Tearjerker'. The song, with it's singing guitar lines and heavy rhythms, is a fantastic way to show not all of the music from this time frame was horrible. While so many people were enduring pre-fabricated pop or the horrors of (ugh) nu-metal, I had this album to let my head breathe a bit. It's an album that rocks, but without being balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face about every track. It has energy, but it's not manic. To give a back handed compliment, it's a great album almost for what it's not. It's not over-the-top, it's not aggro, it's not a rip off and it's not just their first album re-hashed. In a sense the almost unremarkable is what makes it so solid.
Lechuza is a straight-ahead, no frills rock record that got too-quickly passed over by an ever changing scene right after the turn of the millennium. If you have any affection for left-of-center rock bands that evoke a Foo Fighters vibe, give this album a listen and see what they were. It's a far stronger outing than their debut and an under-appreciated stealth effort.
Music changes, as does the weather. While it's getting slightly cooler here, that tinge of fall coming into the air, I find myself unintentionally flashing back to my high school years and the music I listened to as classes resumed. I recall the feeling of crisp fall air as I pulled in to the practice field for soccer, playing my tunes loudly to get myself geared up to run for far too long. One band I adored, who never got proper recognition for their excellent music, was Fenix Tx.
Originally named River Fenix, the group had to amend their name after threats from the Fenix estate. Their first full release, a self-titled album propelled by the single 'All My Fault', was a middling affair that I loved, warts and all. The songs were kinda punky, but a little more straight forward than anything else I was listening to at the time. When I saw their sophomore effort in the bin at the music shop I frequented (yes, that was still a thing, just a decade ago) I picked it up automatically. Titled Lechuza, this release saw the band go harder and faster, their songwriting developing further and as a result, rocked harder than their first release.
