The Meddling Kids

the melodic rock of The Meddling Kids just keeps getting more and more attention, like when they were chosen by Brother Wease to open for Blues Traveler this past July, and when they shared stages with Warrant and Firehouse. Now the four-piece is set to release their debut CD at High Fidelity on Friday, November 9th, a recording that showcases the band's knack for crafting catchy songs, adding a harder edge here, and some pop-leaning there, all for great results. Basically, these kids rock! - Freetime Magazine

Let Her Go is the radio rocker that will get you singing along after the first listen. The radio sound is what really gets me into the music of this band. The songs are catchy, upbeat and rock. The strong melodies carries this rock infused power pop with the riding rhythm behind it. The group is heavily influenced by the 80`s which you can tell but its not over the top. Usually you get the 80`s cop out bands but this group knows how tin integrate the influence into their music and create nice rocking power tunes.

Goodbye is another 80`s pop rock tune reminiscent Bon Jovi meets an almost Weezer vibe to the song mainly of the guitar work. It hits hard with that the old school riff approach and driving backbone. The straight riff of What You Want will instantly remind you Sebastian Bach in the vocal delivery with the punk influenced tones. After the more upbeat tempo songs is the one that stuck out to me called Drift Away. The acoustic based song glimmers with pop euphoria and an almost darker vibe to the albums structure. Its a good mix up to blend the album well and not sounding to repetitive.

Overall a great album from my home base of Rochester, NY and with some good help should get these guys into the main spotlight with their catchy hooks and upbeat music. A definite ear opener to your average music listener for feel good times and good melodic music that will last through this age of fads and emo rock. Its good to hear an album like this, the music business is full of image style bands that care more about their girls pants and eye liner than actually sitting down and making good quality rock music. Thats where the Meddling Kids come in. It may not be your cup of tea but you have to respect what they do. They are bringing the Rock n` Roll back and kickin` down the door of this fashion industry of trends and not being afraid to write good rock music.

Review by Tom Spinelli

http://melodic.net/reviewsOne.asp?revnr=6330 - Melodic.Net

This melodic rock group comes out of New York with a fresh array of songs for all types of listeners. The Meddling Kids combine talented songwriting, trendy dynamics and hooks, with the upbeat beat just begging for some air time. This radio friendly band plays powerpop rock as it should be played. The upbeat songs just bring a smile to the listeners face right from the beginning. This band has too good of a sound not to be picked up by a major label REALLY soon. The songs discuss all emotions that everyone goes through and makes everything seem okay in the end. If you are looking for a happy, upbeat band that will always put you in a good mood, The Meddling Kids are perfect for you. Listen for the buzz because this band will be on everyone's lips very, very soon.


http://targetaudiencemagazine.org/meddlingkids.html - Target Audience Magazine

I am going to get this out of the way right now: The Meddling Kids? I am in love with the Scooby Doo reference (hoping there is one and I’m not reading too much into it). Anyways, references aside, TMK are a seriously talented rock band right out of your backyard in Rochester.

Playing a borderline cocky rock style much in the vein of Bowling for Soup or older Goo Goo Dolls, these guys have blazed every single concert hall and eardrum that gets in their way in Western New York. From Club Infinity and Milestones, to parades to private parties, TMK has been doing a lot in their short time as a band.

With a marketable and versatile rock sound, their music is widely accessible and I’m sure if you give it a listen you will be hooked. Songs like Goodbye and Let Her Go have the standard mainstream sounding guitars, but with a certain hard rock riffing that makes them stand above the rest of the today’s modern rock ilk. To put it simply, if you were to take the rock uniqueness of, let’s say, a Bowling for Soup, then add to it catchy rock guitars of Blink-182, you would have something close to the sound emanating from TMK.

TMK has also just signed a sweet three record deal with Fastlane Records and is working on a tour as well. They are also working on a version of Rick Springfield’s I've Done Everything for You on the upcoming Rick Springfield tribute CD, aptly titled Working Class Dogs, also being released on Fastlane Records.

My suggestion is you see them now, before a bigger label decides to pick them up and the days off seeing them at a local venue fall to the wayside.

- Brian Campbell , Rochesterathome.com , 2/28/07

http://www.rochesterathome.com/Detail.aspx?dct=54&id=2410&mid=1269 - Rochesterathome.com

Lazy rock fans whose lack of adventure keeps breathing life into classic rock's bloated corpse - or who just want to hear a band that's an extension of Top 40 radio - have got it made in this town. Cover bands and the venues that book them threaten to take over. And they'd almost get away with it, too, if it weren't for those Meddling Kids.

The Meddling Kids is smart pop quartet producing extremely catchy, potentially radio-friendly rock 'n' roll. Though initially sucked into the swirling cover song vortex when it formed five years ago, the Rochester band now blazes ahead with some bright, tight, and outta sight original music on its self-titled debut release.

That's how it was always supposed to be.

"Originally we wanted to do our own stuff," says singer/guitarist Tyler Norton. "But with Rochester you kinda have to play covers for people to come out and see the shows."

Perhaps if bands refused to play covers, clubs would get the hint and fans would have to - gasp! - listen to something new. Drummer Billy Eberts is down with the moratorium, but concedes that a lot of bands would cave.

"Because of the money," he says.

OK, how about bullshitting the audience a little? Play an original and tell 'em it's a cover.

"We've actually done the opposite," says guitarist Jeremy Rezz. "Played a cover and said it was our song. It was a Smokey Robinson song but it was obscure enough."

If you spin The Meddling Kids' new disc you'll immediately hear the band's understanding of rock music's originality, and its limits. Rockers are running out of places to go that haven't already been trod by The Stones, The Beatles, or their disciples. And that's where fans tend to get fed up and cling to the bosom of the old stuff. In order to stay unique, new music is often just too weird.

One of the precious few remaining bastions of originality is the construction and re-working of established sounds. That's just what The Meddling Kids do with brilliant execution.

There's Cheap Trick, The Ramones, The Goo Goo Dolls, and even The Beatles thrashing around in this band's mix. But somehow - and this is where the talent comes in - it doesn't end up sounding like any of those influences. It's pop, only louder and a little heavier. It's rock with finesse and flourish. It's familiar and it's fresh. It was easier than the band had initially thought.

"We were surprised how simple the process actually was," Norton says.

"It was chemistry that worked right from the get-go," says bassist Brian Eberts. Eberts and his drummer brother, Billy, grew up in Webster playing together and are frequently referred to by the band as one entity.

"The brothers Eberts," Norton says. "They basically grew up as a rhythm section."

This is a two-headed rock 'n' roll rhythm monster that, frankly, would go to waste in a cover band. The brothers Eberts give the band's pop its power. The songs are well-written, hook-laden bursts of cool. And it's the band's heavier big amp, big riff approach that brings the rock. The Kids prove melody doesn't always have to be placid or soft.

The production on the new disc is fantastic, too. Laid to tape at the now-defunct Red Room Studios on Sanford Street and mixed down at GFI in Webster, this is one of the best-produced records to come out of Rochester in a while. It's crisp, tight, loud, and punchy. It's slick. And an opening track "Let Her Go" is a smash hit just waiting to smash. All that's left is to get off the couch and dig the band.

"We try to put on the show we want to see from other bands [but] usually don't," says Billy Eberts.

With the dawn of this new disc and the regional touring that entails, everyone's gonna get the chance to love The Meddling Kids. There are already four people that do in a big way.

http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/music/articles/ROCK%3A+The+Meddling+Kids/ - Rochester City Newspaper (Frank De Blase)

Take one part infectious pop, one part classic rock, throw in a cover tune best described as "Rick Springfield on steroids", and you begin to understand why The Meddling Kids provide the cure for the "anti-rock star" blues.

Drummer Billy Eberts took the time to tell TWRY how this upstate New York quartet helps keep the snow belt hot.


TWRY: You guys have a great name. Can you tell us the story behind it? Is Scooby Doo involved at all?

Billy: Thank you, yeah, we borrowed the name from Scooby Doo. As you may know, at the end of most episodes the villain usually says, “And I would have gotten away


TWRY: How did the band initially get together?

Billy: Jeremy, Brian and I started playing together back in high school. Jeremy had played with Tyler previous to that in another project. We all went our separate ways in different bands and then said, “Hey, we all have the same influences and we’ve been friends for years, let’s put something together.” The rest is history, as they say.


TWRY: I understand that when you started the band, your goal was to give the audience the type of show you always wanted to experience. What type of show did you mean? And do you feel like you’ve achieved this?

Billy: We’re all fans of bands like KISS and Cheap Trick that put on as much of a visual show as they do musically. Throughout the 1990’s, it seemed like every band out there prided themselves in being the “anti-rock star.” Staring at their feet, no interaction whatsoever with the crowd. I’ve always said, if a band isn’t going to be entertaining live, the audience might as well sit home and listen to the album. We know especially today how tough it is for bands to get people out to shows when you’re competing with computers, YouTube, satellite tv, etc. We give people a reason to come out and see us.


TWRY: I know that your influences include classic rock acts like KISS and The Rolling Stones, yet you also note that growing up, you listened to pop artists such as Michael Jackson and Huey Lewis. With the sound you’ve created, do you feel like you’ve incorporated elements from both genres?

Billy: I think so. Sometimes there really isn’t that much of a difference between genres, other than that one band may be playing Les Pauls through Marshall amps and the other band is playing with the keyboards more up-front.


TWRY: It’s been said of your music that “The Kids prove melody doesn’t always have to be placid or soft.” Can you comment on that?

Billy: That kind of goes back to the previous question. A lot of times people hear that a band is melodic and they automatically think that it’s going to be real light, limp-wristed stuff. We take melodies that probably could be used in a more pop-type atmosphere and put an AC/DC guitar tone to it and then you basically get The Meddling Kids sound.


TWRY: The band released its self-titled debut album in November. Can you tell us a little bit about the record, and take us through a few of your favorite tracks?

Billy: We finally got it out this past November after going back and forth with some labels. We actually started recording it over a year ago, and then realized we had to remix it to get it up to our standards. We hooked up with a small indie label, Mister Cat Records, who put it out for us and basically let us be in control of things rather then having to answer to someone. I really love every song on it and think it turned out great. I’d say a few of the standout tracks would be “Let Her Go,” which is a straight-ahead rocker with a Cheap Trick/Ramones feel to it…“Goodbye” is another great tune that someone commented on to me by saying, “It has more hooks than a tackle box”… “It’s Over” is a crowd-participation favorite as well.


TWRY: Have you been pleased with the response the album has received so far?

Billy: We’ve been very pleased. We’ve received a lot of really nice press and a lot of radio play, both on commercial radio stations as well as college and internet radio. We’ve been selling a lot of copies on cdbaby.com all over the world. It’s almost overwhelming when you see that people in Australia are buying the cd that we wrote in my basement!


TWRY: You contributed your take on “I’ve Done Everything For You” to “Working Class Dogs,” a Rick Springfield tribute cd. Tell us about this – and how would you describe your version of the song?

Billy: That’s coming out on FastLane Records. They got in touch and asked if we wanted to be a part of it and we said sure. We had toyed with the idea of doing that song live anyway, so we figured, let’s go in the studio for a night and knock it out. As far as our version, we slightly changed the arrangement a little bit, beefed it up a little to give it a modern edge, but tried to keep the song intact so Springfield fans will dig it. Sort of like when Van Halen covered “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. I guess it sort of sounds like Rick Springfield on steroids.


TWRY: You’ve played with bands such as Blues Traveler and Warrant, as well as with members of KISS and Motley Crue. Any particular favorite?

Billy: That’s a tough one, because all the bands we play with and the shows we do are cool in different ways. The Blues Traveler show we did this past summer was really a special show for the four of us. We did it acoustic which isn’t something we do that often. It was at a sold-out club that holds about 1,200 people, and there must have been 1,500 there! It was totally crazy — we stepped out on stage and the place went crazy. Playing with Warrant and KISS and Motley Crue was cool in the fact that those are bands that as kids we looked up to, and to share a stage with them and hang out and actually have them tell us that they loved the show is an awesome feeling.

This past weekend, we did a special show with Chip Z’Nuff from the legendary Chicago powerpop band Enuff Z’Nuff. Chip came into town for my wife’s birthday and we played a whole set of Enuff Z’Nuff with Chip on bass, which was awesome. The four of us are huge fans, to say the least, and that was a blast and really an honor.


TWRY: Who would be your dream band to tour with?

Billy: Probably bands like KISS and Aerosmith, just for the fact that there’s a guaranteed sellout crowd every night! Butch Walker, who was in The Marvelous 3 and other bands, would be very cool too. (Butch give us a call!!)

TWRY: What’s the most important thing for TWRY readers to know about The Meddling Kids?

bILLY: We’d just like to thank everyone for their support, and you haven’t heard the last from us! We hope to see everyone out on the road soon. Feel free to stop by our MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/themeddlingkidsrock and drop us a line. Our official website is http://www.themeddlingkids.com and our cd can be purchased at http://www.cdbaby.com/meddlingkids.

TWRY:Overall, what’s the 2008 plan for the band?

Billy: We have some out-of-town shows in the works and we’re going to keep pushing the radio market and see what we can do. We have another album that is already written that we may start working on later in the year. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for checking us out. Happy New Year and we’ll see you soon!



http://www.theywillrockyou.com/spotlight/index.php/spotlight/the_meddling_kids/ - www.theywillrockyou.com

Just what I needed — a Rochester-based hard pop powerhouse to kick my jaded Gen-X butt. If The Meddling Kids are any indication, apparently there’s nothing better to do in the snow belt except overindulge in a whole lot of blissfulicious ear candy, learn the tricks of dynamics and hooks, and then churn out a fresh, youthful take on the kind of music we thirty-somethings used to scream along to…at the mall. Wearing way big hair. Yes, their originals are a melodic, hard-driving pop worthy of repeated listens. But their cover songs are a huge treat. Rick Springfield, anyone? How about a super-duper cover of “I’ve Done Everything For You” done…get this…without irony. The Meddling Kids are radio-friendly, fun, cute and insanely marketable. “I don’t know what you want, I don’t know what you need,” goes “What You Want.” Boys, don’t sell yourselves short — you know exactly what I need. More Meddling Kids!
(http://www.themeddlingkids.com/) (Review date: Sept 3 2007) - lowbudgetsuperhero.com (Boston, MA)

These guys are bringing back memories and creating new melodies. Their vocals remind of David Bowie meets Bonjovi. Both GREAT singers to be compared to. Musically melodic.

Fan of that 70's show are you? Listen and play with the kids! - Groove Magazine (Seoul, Korea)

Like a sugar-coated razor blade, Rochester, New York’s The Meddling Kids offer up a great mix of finely crafted hard pop songs that hide behind those sweet vocal harmonies some pretty biting lyrics.

I came across the band early last year when I was sent a copy of a pre-release version of their great lead off track Let Her Go which has since been honed to a biting sharpness which brings the guitar even more to the forefront. Their self-titled CD is resplendid with hooks galore, both of the guitar and vocal variety. Whether on Goodbye, 7 More Days or one of my favoutites Guilloteenager, these guys know how to draw you in and hold you from beginning to end.

I like all kinds of rock and roll but I have always especially enjoyed well-crafted rock songs laden with hooks. Some may call it commercial, I just call it rock and roll fun of the highest order. Great stuff.

You can listen to some tracks at their MySpace page http://www.myspace.com/themeddlingkidsrock - Rock and Roll Report (Mark Boudreau)