Last Call
Stay On The Outside
Mightier Than Sword (2011)
RIYL: Polar Bear Club, The Swellers, Living With Lions
Score: 9/10
Listening to Stay on the Outside, the latest EP from Las Vegas’ own Last Call, takes me back to when I first discovered bands like Saves the Day and The Movielife. Those two bands will likely be a common point of comparison to Last Call in the coming weeks due to their similar brand of pop-punk with hardcore influences, but it’s not so much the musical similarities that evoke the comparison to me, as it is the feeling the songs invoke. They’re teeming with so much creative energy, raw passion, and drive that it’s often easy to forget that this is coming from a band that is only at the very beginning of their career.
Long Distance kicks things off and is one of the EP’s clear standouts, showcasing all of Last Call’s strengths in one place. Producer Paul Miner, who also worked with the band on their 12:57 EP, wisely keeps them sounding crisp without being overly clean, giving the opening riff a biting edge and a kick to the drums that you usually only achieve live. Vocalist Austin Jeffers has an unbridled intensity to his voice that recalls Polar Bear Club’s Jimmy Stadt, but also an earnest, vulnerable quality that makes his heart-on-his-sleeve lyrics ring sincere. This is on full display in It’s Like This Place Isn’t Even Real, a relatable tale of mid-20s stagnation and the anxiety surrounding the desire to make big changes in your life but being unable to “escape from this dusty one horse town.” Musically here, the band goes from fast to slow on a dime, giving the song a memorable, kinetic feel and the album’s strongest melody.
Keyholes finds the band dipping into melodic hardcore territory, a fast-paced tale of a failed relationship with backing vocals from drummer Adam Blasco that beg you to scream along. It’s a hard-hitting track with speed and passion reminiscent of The Movielife’s Hand Grenades. Old News utilizes a powerful pop-punk breakdown in its opening, a technique that many young bands in this New Found Glory-influenced landscape tend to overuse but Last Call cleverly saves for just the right moments.
For those who download the EP on iTunes, there is an exclusive acoustic version of Slow Motion, the 12:57 track that presents music as therapy, able to get people’s “ass up out that door” when “fear and recognition” trap you in your own head. While it doesn’t quite live up to the plugged-in version, the slower tempo works to highlight the hopeful lyrics and provides a cathartic ending to Stay on the Outside.
Stay on the Outside is passionate and unrestrained, filled with catchy hooks, great melodies, and therapeutic expression. With all the talent on display here, I’m certainly excited to see what the future has in store for Last Call.
Stay on the Outside will be released August 2 through Mightier Than Sword Records and is streaming in its entirety on the band’s Absolutepunk.net profile. If you like what you hear, check them out at their upcoming shows.
-Emily Matview
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