Saves the Day

Through Being Cool (1999)

Aubin Paul

The first Saves the Day record, Can't Slow Down sounded an awful lot like Lifetime. Most critics would use
that in a derogatory manner. But I'm not a critic. I'm a fan. Lifetime is one of the greatest hardcore or punk
or whatever bands to grace this planet. So I'm biased. For me to say something sounds like Lifetime is a high
compliment. However (you knew it was coming), you're not going to make a name for yourself by trying to sound like
a scene defining band. So while I found Can't Slow Down listenable, it quickly ended up in a drawer on my
desk. It followed the Lifetime formula too closely, and that's no fun. I want surprises, after all.

Thankfully, with Through Being Cool, the band has nearly found themselves. It's still a little derivative. One of the better
tracks, Rocks Tonic Juice Magic sounds almost identical to Samiam's track, Capsized from
their Clumsy album. However, the rest of the album seems to be more in line with where I hope to see the band moving in the next
while.

It's good, simple pop-punk, with some hard edges, and, to their credit, they don't sound like anything on
Fat, which is a hard thing for a pop-punk band to do.

This isn't a mediocre album. It's actually a very good one, but mostly because it shows the potential and talent that will hopefully make
Saves the Day into a classic to rival their idols.