Broadway Calls – Self Titled

As I listen to the self-titled release from Broadway Calls, I can’t help but feel that they’re releasing the album a little bit too late. The pop-punk mainstream fade came and went five years ago, and it’s because of that disinterest in the genre that the band won’t do as well on a larger scale as they could’ve a few years ago; however, that doesn’t take away from the simple fact that Broadway Calls have given us a great pop-punk album for those people who, like me, still love the simple pop-punk sound.

You see, Broadway Calls may not be re-inventing the wheel, but they’re still releasing a decidedly solid album that comes as a breath of fresh air in an emo filled releases schedule. Fans of old school Drive-Thru Records will see that there are still bands out there producing classic pop-punk melodies that the label was founded on. With vocals that sound like a mix between Ryan Key and New Found Glory era Jordan Pundik (particularly on Back To Oregon and Van Rides and High Tides) with a slightly lower nasal tone and upbeat music reminiscent of No Fun at All and The Loved Ones, Broadway Calls has all the necessary ingredients to pull of an consistently entertaining pop-punk record.

Call It Off basically forces you to sing the chorus, “we hit the switch and call off all executions / call off all celebrations / this is the last song written” along with them while Suffer The Kids excites the listener with a heavy No Use For A Name drum beat and dueling vocals. Save Our Ship, which starts off shakily due to the softness of the track, ends with a powerful gang chorus and So Long My Friendcould fit easily in a Useless I.D. record.

The only downside of the album is the length as the final few tracks tend to drag on a bit. Life is In The Air and Classless Reunion, while following the same general pattern as the rest of the album, fall on deaf ears as by then it’s been too long and there’s not enough of a pull from those songs to grab the listener’s attention again. Plus, the minute and a half acoustic Meet Me At Washington Park is too weak to listen to and is complete filler. So if they had cut those three tracks out and went straight from the cover of The Smith’s A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours to the energetic closer, So Long My Friend, the album would have had a more complete feel to it.

Despite the slight falter with the length, Broadway Calls’ self-titled effort is well worth your time. It’s being released a few years too late to really be able to explode but it will still tingle the interest of most pop-punk fans.