 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Roper
Brace Yourself For the Mediocre
2004, 5 Minute Walk Records
When the long-running, much-loved Five Iron Frenzy broke it off late in 2003, it was known that various members were going to continue on with other endeavours, and they were true to their word; a few different projects have popped up since, and now songwriter/frontman Reese Roper has unleashed his self-titled band‘s debut. Most of Five Iron‘s fans were of the hardcore (some would say ‘slavishly devoted‘) variety, vowing to follow the members‘ pursuits, and a chunk of them, judging by Roper‘s full-tent performance at Cornerstone Festival, have followed Reese with his.
Comprised of a standard two-guitar setup and Roper himself singing and playing synthesizer, Roper (the band) have - not really to my surprise - come within shooting distance of some of FIF‘s stronger work. The best of Five Iron was singularly theirs and will never be touched, but Roper and his gang have created a tight, shiny pop-punk offering that‘s vintage Reese: wildly entertaining, sometimes personal, sometimes political, and always - without exception - fun to the max. The songwriting remains rooted in simple punk roots; nothing revolutionary, but dang if it‘s not fun. The tongue-in-cheek humour of ‘Hello Lamewads‘, ‘You‘re With Stupid‘ and especially the Shania Twain cover (‘You‘re Still The One‘) maintain the ‘fun‘ quotient, while ‘Red Eye to Miami‘ allows Roper to vent his political spleen in a perceptive, intelligent way.
Reese‘s lyrics have always been to the point, aiming to entertain rather than make converts to his point of view, and while he‘s become known for his self-deprecating style (‘I am not the best with words/I wish I had a better speech‘, from ‘How Your Halo Fell‘), the last song, ‘In Excelsis Deo‘, is a lyrical gem, cementing Roper‘s post-FIF place as a master of everyman poetry. The highlight of Brace Yourself is ‘1985‘, a wistful look back at that golden year (Roper himself would have been around ten); this incredibly catchy little ditty combines all the elements the band does well: great chorus replete with some lovely, twinkling guitar picking over a power-chord base and a sense of being easily-relateable. The Twain cover, although cute, isn‘t necessary, but I‘m guessing the band thought it was fun to play and they were gonna cover it anyway, and who cares what cynical journalists have to say. Overall, Brace Yourself is a solid beginning to Phase Two of Roper (the man)‘s musical trek.
- Mike Postma
Copyright 2005