The Hard Way

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