Reviews!!!!
The reviews for our debut album are starting to come in. Here's a few:
From
Broken Dial:
The remnants of punk rock's influence on pop culture were slowly eroded by the waves of pop that came out of bands like Good Charlotte and Blink 182; choked by the metal-tomfoolery of Sum 41, and yet, here come the Visitors, leading the charge at the lifeless music in mainstream America. Some things shouldn't have to be adapted for public consumption, here is an act that is doing their best to rewind time and deliver the best punk record of 1974. Tight riffs and hooky bass lines pound the deepest primal recesses. It doesn't matter when you heard your very first punk rock song; the Visitors are capable and willing to take you back in their rock and roll space capsule.
There is a chemistry on The Visitors that cannot be faked or duplicated, the band are three irrepressible brothers-in-arms, allied against crappy artists and pretentious has-beens. Few could deliver such a fun experience; remaining distinctively lo-fi and crystal clear simultaneously. If the group had access to top-notch equipment, they don't care for it, instead choosing to rely on skill and the simplicity of great punk rock to sway an audience. Whether asking the listener to swallow the speed and precision of grimy rock and roll or to enjoy the simplicity of three chord progressions, the Visitors are more than happy to toss a wrench into one's perception. What is punk? This is punk, and though you can "tell when you hear it," the band members themselves don't know what they are. The Visitors make good music and need to be appreciated for that.
The Visitors don't care who likes them, as long as the people who do find them fun. Music isn't always about being the first or the best, sometimes the band that plays the loudest and seems the most "together" on stage can win fans. This is an act that won't need commercial success to feel valuable, even though they surely deserve to reap the fruits of their labors.
Eschatone Records might just have something huge on their hands here.
From
Aversion:
So when, exactly, did garage rock become such a deadly serious affair? What was once the domain of freaks, iffy musicians and losers has become the domain of museum-piece antiquarians, record-collecting and 40-year-old virgins. Where bands once scraped together whatever instruments they could lay hands on, dressed in whatever cheap-assed outfits they could afford and knew nothing beyond the bubblegum and sleaze-rock 45s they collected, now it's the domain of expensive vintage gear, expensive vintage suits and expensive, vintage Golden Age-records.
Or so we're told through anecdotal evidence; nobody under the age of 65 can honestly attest to the veracity of the non-nostalgic garage-rock scene. While proof about the non-wanky garage age is elusive, The Visitors' self-titled debut may be a hint that rock-ologists sought for years. With greasy sonics that borrow heavily from the garage era -- The Visitors checks everything from The Troggs and The Kingsmen to The Sonics and The White Stripes -- and an attitude more akin to Ramones-loving cretins, The Visitors don't toe the line set down by a million garage-rock wannabes before it.
Yeah, it comes at the price of gold-certified, notarized certificates of authenticity. The Visitors aren't here to recreate a thin sliver of their record collection. They're not even here blend bits and pieces of their favorite obscurities to win over the garage-bound train-spotters ("It's like The Chocolate Watchband meets The Trashmen!"). The Visitors gleefully muddies the waters, jacking noisy, grimy rock'n'roll from all points between the garage and CBGB's. And while the band's destroying the sterility maintained by garage rock's gate-keeping elite, it's busy indulging the sort of weird-assed streak you'd expect from a lost Ramones tune: Topic matter strays from cheerfully bemoaning daytime television ("TV Blues") to happily bemoaning psychotherapy ("Happy Again") to messing with a Roky Erikson cut about the undead ("I Walked with a Zombie").
It's the sound of a band picking up guitars and banging out the first thing that came out. Full of soul, crammed with an irrepressible, almost innocent glee, The Visitors is the antithesis to the buttoned-down world of garage rock rules. Wrecking authenticity and bastardizing a slew of rock'n'roll formulas is rarely so much fun.
From
Playback:Stl:
The Visitors are 100% garage rock. Like their distorted, energetic, and slightly reckless sound, this New York trio is proud to claim that they're "never gonna be clean and civilized." The sound that the Visitors achieve is excellent. The band and recorder/mixer (no proudcer is listed) Uncle Mitro capture the ragged edge of garage rock while not sounding like a reactionary band trying to sound exactly like the album was recorded in the '60s or '70s. Combining a knack for catchy melodies with a passionate performance and lyrics never too far removed from traditional rock subject, the Visitors should appeal to any garage rock enthusiast with their just-under-30-minutes, self-titled album.
From
CultureBunker:
The Visitors crank out garage stompin' tunes with traditional inspiration drawn from classic 50's/60's rock n' roll with a slightly rougher edge. They stray into other territories too, dipping into punk rock ballads and more melodic 80's guitar pop punk that almost sounds like early Replacements or The Dils. It's unapologetic ass shakin' guitar rock, which is something I kind of like. The Visitors are playing music similar to that of their heroes, and they have pretty damn good taste in heroes.
From
Maximum Rock-n-Roll (March 2007 issue):
A New York Band that dishes out the garage rock 'n' roll with a punk edge. A little RAMONES, NEW YORK DOLLS, and PHIL SPECTOR are all obvious influences. Rough production gives this a vintage CBGB feel. This is a decent release for a band that is going for that sound without any ties to the past.
Get it today from Amazon, iTunes, or ask about it at your local record store...
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