OK-KGO!

Warner Drive

Midnight Mp3 - Warner Drive

Song: OK-KGO!

For Fans Of: Salvia, Incubus, Nonpoint, Saving Abel, Atreyu, Cavo 

Written By - Randall

Why This Rocks: There are two albums that were absolutely pivotal in my transformation from creepy Cascada listener to the slighty less creepy music afficianado: Sound Of Madness by Shinedown and Lead Sails, Paper Anchor by Atreyu. They took the perception I had of music and flipped them on their head and began teabagging the holy heck out of it. Fast forward to the here and now and my musical world has opened up beyond anything I could have imagined, new sounds, new ideas, it’s all been rattled to it’s very core.  Yet, in the back of mind has always been that longing for a return to that soul-shaping sound and I’ve continually searched for something, anything to take me back to those familiar feelings of grandeur.  It was at the start of this week that my journey came to an end, ladies and gentlemen let me introduce you to Warner Drive. 

If you love rock with a cutting punk edge, then you’ll love this band from Hollywood, CA.  Don’t even try to compare these guys to anyone in their genre, they do more than transcend the sound; they create a vibe and feel of their very own. Too rough around the edges to be straight alternative, way more grungy than anything in the modern rock scene, and so damn rollicking that southern rock has wet dreams wishing it was this badass. What really gets me is that they personify every top 40 rock band before they sold out to the mainstream (Yes I’m talking to you Hinder, Puddle Of Mudd, and Nickelback.). The very lifeblood of their music screams like a siren in the night of their passion to make it in this cold and uncaring business.  

Led by lead singer Johnny Law, you’ll immediately be pulled in if you live and breathe rock that remembers how to…well… rock. This is old school wrapped up in a new school wrapper, brutally, sweaty, and vintage to the core (They’re sponsored by Jagermeister for Christ sakes!).  Law’s voice is like freaking baked alaska, wickedly sweet at times with enough firepower to burn your face off if don’t stop him. Every great band should have a frontman like this. 

Behind him is the foundational backing of Candice Levinson and Ryan Harris on guitar; their harmonizing creates as scratchy background of beastly grunge.  Their work is particularly superb because it’s not trying to be overly intricate with a bevy of unescessary intonnations; it’s just flame-broiled smashingness to the sticky-delicious core. So many bands today forget that in order to be an amazing rock act your licks need to be relentless and hells freaking yeah they’ve figured out how to do that here. Throw in Drummer Jonny Udell and Elvis James - by far the greatest name a bassist has ever had in the history of ever - and you are left with a torrential force to be reckoned with.  

“OK-KGO!” is a thumping, steady rocker that packs a wallop of cataclysmic aggression.  Lyrics pump out a fist-pumping anthem for the animalistic sound of explosions set to music.  

It’s getting closer
A revolution of the mind
It’s enough to make you sober
And the answer’s so divine

Like a depth charge of awesome, this is a band that would storm the gates of hell if they thought the devil would head bob to their tunage.  If I sound a bit over the top forgive me, it’s not often that bands like this activate the big bad wolf in all of us and good god there’s some houses that need the be huffed and puffed the heck down. 

Rarely do you find a band this dedicated, this committed, and really this freaking good. Having played over 200 shows a year they know how to rattle the rafters with a maelstrom of energetic excellence.  There’s so much for this incredible band to do with their stupefying comprehension of how to fuse rock, punk, and striking insanity into one individual piece of greatness.  You’ve gone too long without having Warner Drive in your life, get to know what is sure to be your next musical obsession. 

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