Dave Melillo – Talk Is Cheap

Some CDs you have no idea what to expect, and when you finally get around to listening to it you either blown away. Dave Melillo is somewhat like that. Really, I wasn’t expecting much from it; because whileDrive-Thru Records are responsible for discovering some of my favorite pop-punk bands, lately their new signings have been a bit of a disappointment for me.But you still have to give the Reinses credit, because during their career they’ve found a lot of great bands. New Found Glory, Allister, Finch, Dashboard Confessional, Something Corporate and the list goes on.And really, after hearing Talk Is Cheap, it’s clear that they have probably just signed the new Chris Carrabba.

While the six song EP is just a prelude for Melillo‘s soon to come full length, Talk is Cheap is sure to grab enough people’s attention that by the end of the summer, everyone will be talking about the recent high school graduate.

The EP itself is a perfect blend of melodic acoustic pop bringing up slight visions of Dashboard Confessional and City & Colour (But Melillo‘s vocals are much stronger than those of Dallas Green – instead, think of a mix between Carrabba and Kenny Varsoli of The Starting Line). The six songs are a variation of sonic adventures, sometimes with a band and sometimes without. There’s the slow moving, acoustically driven For the Sake Of Remembering contrasted against the slightly more energetic This is 2005, which is full of Something Corporate-esque piano melodies and strong vocals singing of a high school life and hope for the future that gets instantly squashed into your brain. Vatican Roulette uses the full band for an upbeat, pure pop-punk song about parties, drinking, and sex (and this chick’s been talking for so long and you hope that all this listening pays off soon) at the tender age of sixteen. That right there is another in Melillo has for all the teen acoustic fans, his lyrics are easily relatable while being feasible. I mean, he’s just seventeen, he’s aloud to be singing about teenage love and high school, unlike most bands who still sing about that well into their thirties.

Dave Melillo‘s Talk Is Cheap fits right into the Drive-Thru Records catalogue. It’s catchy, melodic, upbeat and fun. It proves that despite some mistakes, the Reinses still have the skill to pick out the next big thing from the crowd, and Melillo will be that.