American Hi-Fi

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American Hi-Fi

Flavor of the Week?

Like Dave Grohl before him, American Hi-Fi front man Stacy Jones has decided to step from behind the drum kit and see what it's like to front a band. Jones has put aside his drum duties with Veruca Salt and Letters to Cleo and to form American Hi-Fi--a wise move since Jones proves to be a gem of a singer-songwriter and guitarist. The band is rounded out by Guitarist Jamie Arentzen, Bassist Drew Parsons, who's played with alterna-chic Tracy Bonham, and Drummer Brian Nolan, formerly of Figdish. The band's taste and influences are the same that most alternative bands cite with Cheap Trick, Kiss, Pixies, and of course Led Zeppelin. Shortly after the band was formed Jones was called to play drums on a fellow Veruca Salt alum Nina Gordon's new album, which was being recorded in Maui and produced by Bob Rock, who has produced albums for such luminaries as Motley Crue, Metallica, Kiss, Aerosmith and of course Veruca Salt. So the band wouldn't lose momentum Jones invited his new band mates out to practice while he was working on Gordon's album. The band decided to play a local club, Rock took a day of from recording to see the bands live debut and was so impressed offered to produce their debut album American Hi-Fi .

"Surround" jumps starts the album with crunchy guitar pop, that interestingly enough sounds a lot like it could be a Foo Fighters song. Heavy guitar riffing and pounding introduce the album's first single "Flavor of the Week." After the initial heavy intro the song gets a lot poppier and bouncier as Jones sings about the fickle taste of some jerk and how he wishes he can make said jerks' girlfriend see that. It's a decent enough song and video that pays homage to the underground cult documentary short "Heavy Medal Parking Lot" is getting some play on MTV, but the lyrics leave a little to be desired.

"A Bigger Mood" is another Foo Fighter-ish track, not that that is a bad thing, far from it actually, the song speeds along as Jones laments "your always in my way/falling faster everyday/you bring me down/everything just crashes to the ground." "Safer on the Outside" starts out with slow guitars and a rumbling bass line as Jones singing in a near whisper, before flaring up to a bigger sound for the chorus, then slipping back down for the verses, similar to the successful dynamics Nirvana used quite a bit.

Van Halen-esque guitar soloing introduces the punk-popish longing of "I'm a Fool." "Hi-Fi Killer" is another track that instrumentally seems like a Nirvana left over. It has a grunge-pop feel to it with distorted straight forward guitars blaring as Jones bemoans, in a voice that at times is faintly remniscent of head pumpkin Billy Corgan, the current state of radio "I gotta disappear/Don't want to hear that sound on the radio/Yeah we can all hum along cuz it's the same old song." "Blue Day" features some jangling guitars and a bouncy bassline, but not much else.

With it's swirling distorted guitars and crashing drums added to with Jones's whisper into screamed vocals sounds like a more radio friendly Nine Inch Nails. "Don't Wait for the Sun" starts slowly with Jones singing of a nasty break up over a lightly strummed acoustic guitar before giving way to squealing electric guitars and thrashing drums as Jones sings a chorus of "don't wait for the sun/it could turn black any day/i lost my hat in the clouds/when will the haze go away/I never wanted this." It's a nice break from the fast and furious pop rock of the first half of the album. "Another Perfect Day" sticks with the acoustic guitar and like the previous track details a relationship that's seen better days. "Scar" throws the album back into the pop/rock mold that dominated the first half of the disc and "What About Today" also fails to stray from the sound. "Wall of Sound" is a slow building track that finds Jones vocals doing that Billy Corgan thing again, this time when he sings the verses in a hushed tone, before ratcheting it up a few notches for the chorus.

The album doesn't try to re-invent rock in any way but it does manage to maintain pop's light-heartedness and rock's message heavy tendency. With the band's video being played regularly on MTV and their current slot on MTV's Campus Invasion it's only a matter of time before they break and you won't be able to do anything without hearing one of their songs.Until then though American Hi-Fi is a disc that stands up to multiple listens and provides a nice alternative to the mainstream flood of pop princesses and rap-metal fakers.


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Like Dave Grohl before him, American Hi-Fi front man Stacy Jones has decided to step from behind the drum kit and see what it's like to front a band. Jones has put aside his drum duties with Veruca Salt and Letters to Cleo and to form American Hi-Fi--a wise move since Jones proves to be a gem of a singer-songwriter and guitarist. The band is rounded out by Guitarist Jamie Arentzen, Bassist Drew Parsons, who's played with alterna-chic Tracy Bonham, and Drummer Brian Nolan, formerly of Figdish. The band's taste and influences are the same that most alternative bands cite with Cheap Trick, Kiss, Pixies, and of course Led Zeppelin. Shortly after the band was formed Jones was called to play drums on a fellow Veruca Salt alum Nina Gordon's new album, which was being recorded in Maui and produced by Bob Rock, who has produced albums for such luminaries as Motley Crue, Metallica, Kiss, Aerosmith and of course Veruca Salt. So the band wouldn't lose momentum Jones invited his new band mates out to practice while he was working on Gordon's album. The band decided to play a local club, Rock took a day of from recording to see the bands live debut and was so impressed offered to produce their debut album American Hi-Fi . "Surround" jumps starts the album with crunchy guitar pop, that interestingly enough sounds a lot like it could be a Foo Fighters song. Heavy guitar riffing and pounding introduce the album's first single "Flavor of the Week." After the initial heavy intro the song gets a lot poppier and bouncier as Jones sings about the fickle taste of some jerk and how he wishes he can make said jerks' girlfriend see that. It's a decent enough song and video that pays homage to the underground cult documentary short "Heavy Medal Parking Lot" is getting some play on MTV, but the lyrics leave a little to be desired. "A Bigger Mood" is another Foo Fighter-ish track, not that that is a bad thing, far from it actually, the song speeds along as Jones laments "your always in my way/falling faster everyday/you bring me down/everything just crashes to the ground." "Safer on the Outside" starts out with slow guitars and a rumbling bass line as Jones singing in a near whisper, before flaring up to a bigger sound for the chorus, then slipping back down for the verses, similar to the successful dynamics Nirvana used quite a bit. Van Halen-esque guitar soloing introduces the punk-popish longing of "I'm a Fool." "Hi-Fi Killer" is another track that instrumentally seems like a Nirvana left over. It has a grunge-pop feel to it with distorted straight forward guitars blaring as Jones bemoans, in a voice that at times is faintly remniscent of head pumpkin Billy Corgan, the current state of radio "I gotta disappear/Don't want to hear that sound on the radio/Yeah we can all hum along cuz it's the same old song." "Blue Day" features some jangling guitars and a bouncy bassline, but not much else. With it's swirling distorted guitars and crashing drums added to with Jones's whisper into screamed vocals sounds like a more radio friendly Nine Inch Nails. "Don't Wait for the Sun" starts slowly with Jones singing of a nasty break up over a lightly strummed acoustic guitar before giving way to squealing electric guitars and thrashing drums as Jones sings a chorus of "don't wait for the sun/it could turn black any day/i lost my hat in the clouds/when will the haze go away/I never wanted this." It's a nice break from the fast and furious pop rock of the first half of the album. "Another Perfect Day" sticks with the acoustic guitar and like the previous track details a relationship that's seen better days. "Scar" throws the album back into the pop/rock mold that dominated the first half of the disc and "What About Today" also fails to stray from the sound. "Wall of Sound" is a slow building track that finds Jones vocals doing that Billy Corgan thing again, this time when he sings the verses in a hushed tone, before ratcheting it up a few notches for the chorus. The album doesn't try to re-invent rock in any way but it does manage to maintain pop's light-heartedness and rock's message heavy tendency. With the band's video being played regularly on MTV and their current slot on MTV's Campus Invasion it's only a matter of time before they break and you won't be able to do anything without hearing one of their songs.Until then though American Hi-Fi is a disc that stands up to multiple listens and provides a nice alternative to the mainstream flood of pop princesses and rap-metal fakers.