My Hidden Track Blog

On 8/17 we received the following message on our myspace:

“Hey guys, Just wanted to let you know that I picked up your EP off of Itunes last week and wrote a review for it on my blog. http://mikemeeze.com/2009/08/17/music-monday-1/ feel free to check it out and leave a comment or two agreeing or disagreeing or telling me off (haha…u could do that but man, that would be a major drag on my day). well, off to take another listen to “…She Gave Me A Pen” so goddamn catchy! keep up the good work and I cant wait for a full-length!”

Here is Mike’s review:

Music Monday #1
August 17, 2009 by Michael Meeze

My Hidden Track – Hey Love
Record Label: Dare To Dream Records
Release Date: June 5, 2009

Who?
My Hidden Track – Hey Love

An upstart, pop-punk band hailing from Indiana. Hey Love is the first EP from My Hidden Track‘s new line-up; Chandler Lehr (guitar/vocals), Nick Coffing (guitar/vocals), Chad Forbredg (bass), and Patrick Rud (drums).

How is it?
Decent. Average. Possibly a sign of good things to come from this Indiana quintet. Sporting the over-done dual vocals, MHT pound through eight, respectable pop-punk jams, leaving the listener dreaming of what could be a future stand-out in the Scene.

Hey Love starts out with a slow intro entitled “I Hope To God You Are” before bursting into the in-your-face “I Can’t Believe I Gave My Panties To A Geek.” Belting out such lines as “Cause you’re just a bitch/And you don’t mean shit” “Panties” is definitely a standout on Hey Love and it really showcases the honest-to-god lyrics that Nick Thomas (The Spill Canvas) would be proud of. Layered guitar work laces this and every other track on the EP. Along with “Panties” the other stand out tracks are “I Gave Her My Heart, She Gave Me A Pen” (personal favorite) and “Son Of A Bitch He Stole My Line.” All three of these songs use great pop hooks coupled with gang-vocals and on-point guitar work.

Where Hey Love falters is in the production value. To often, the songs blend together, forcing the listener to replay the EP several times just to realize that there are eight songs. The last two songs, “Chances” and “Not Blaming California,” are great examples of this blending. As well, the lyrical content is sure to please high school kids, but other than that segment of the population, the lyrics are forgettable and mediocre. MHT would have been better off only having four or five tracks on this EP, for songs such as “February 17″ and “And I Said I Didn’t Think Anyone Was Ever Old Enough” have little lasting value. All in all though, My Hidden Track have shown much potential with Hey Love and are sure to please the Warped Tour crowds for a while.

Final Grade: 74% (C)

Recommended If You Like: Pop-Punk; Valencia; Say Anything : reliving the honesty of old The Spill Canvas

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We encourage anyone and everyone to that would like to review our CD to do so. I will do my best to post them all here. Feel free to agree or disagree with Mike in the comments section.

Oh and Mike, if you read this I forgive you for misspelling my last name.

Chad & MHT

Here is the link to Gregory Robson’s review of our album:

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1220812

A big thanks to both Gregory and Absolute Punk for reviewing our album. I encourage any curious My Hidden Track fan to read it and leave your own comment either agreeing with or defending the album. We value your opinion.

Regardless, in Gregory’s review he calls us out on being immature, recognizes that the album serves as an Advice To The Lovelorn column and mistakes our affinity for John Cusack and complete admiration for “Sixteen Candles” as a gimmick or ploy to sell music to teenagers. Sadly, I wish that thought had crossed our minds.

We just really love John Cusack…

On a side note I’ve read several different user based reviews that question the albums artwork… while on one hand I would tend to agree the cover featuring Aubrey is a bit misleading… it may cause one to think that the band is somehow related to her. I.E. some speculate that the album is her solo project. I can’t speak for Peter of Flood City Studio who designed the artwork on his feelings in regards to this matter but here is my quick take. They album itself is entitled “Hey Love” and the albums first track “I Hope To God You Are” begins with what one would assume to be a call out to a person… proposing questions like Are you out there? Are you listening? So there does seem to be this connection between the albums lyrical content and the artwork in that manner. The album arguably addresses someone and I could probably ramble on all of my reasons why I think the artwork works but truthfully I’d confuse everyone so i’ll say this, it’s always interesting to hear what an outsider, who wasn’t involved in the process thinks. We appreciate truly helpful criticism that forces us, the artist, to look at our work in a new light. But I can’t help but wonder did people question Blink 182 for putting Janine Lindemulder on the cover of “Enema of the State” or Rob Zombie for “American Made Music to Strip By” but then again I suppose those two are a little more obvious and a little less “Baby One More Time.”

Alas I’m just reacting, thinking things through, sharing my two cents regardless of how irrelevant they are and I guess simultaneously I think it’s important for active listeners and advocates of My Hidden Track to mull these questions over and find answers and resolutions themselves. Just as reviews both positive and negative should force us to reflect on our own work and question why we did what we did or how it could have been done differently, listeners should question why they listen to what they listen to and why certain songs stand out and most importantly answer the question does the album work as a whole?

But hey, Gregory Robson gave us a 68% and you know what? I bow my head and thank him. We’re going to take it. I don’t doubt the album lacks maturity… and a great source of that could have something to do with the fact that we started writing it in late February and recorded it in late March… so we as a band hadn’t matured.. but you can expect that the next album will show signs of maturity because that’s the beauty of playing music with the right people… you just keep getting better and better… the songs just keep getting tighter and tighter, the band enviably grows, matures and fleshes itself out.

I guess my only real complaint with the review is that he calls us a power-pop band… We are anything but a power-pop band… if that’s our goal we definitely are failing.

I hope you all keep listening… questioning… and commenting…

I’ll see some of you August 1st live at The Emerson Theater in Indianapolis.

Chad Forbregd