ARTIST: Made For Broadway
ALBUM NAME: Life Lessons
RELEASE DATE: February 2016
COUNTRY: South Africa
CITY: Johannesburg
GENRE: Pop Punk
MEMBERS:
Vox – Justin James
Drums – Rob Storm
Guitar – Sean Braam
Bass – Brogan Thompson
Made For Broadway have been making waves in the local scene for quite some time now with their highly entertaining and energetic live shows, however they aren’t nearly as popular as they should be. Sure, maybe the pop punk thing isn’t for everybody, but whether you dig the genre or not, one can’t help but bob their head or tap their feet to Life Lessons.
MFB have managed to produce an easy-listening, radio-friendly album packed with summer anthems. You have got to love the sense of nostalgia it brings, from when we were all angst-ridden teenagers listening to Blink 182, BUSTED and Fall Out Boy.
These guys have a lot of comedic value to offer in their narrative style lyrics. Despite True Love, sounding like a cheesy love song, it is actually about murder! (We should have guessed by Jason being on the album artwork, which happens to be a bunch of visual representations of the stories told). Or perhaps the comedic value comes from the funny cat outro hidden at the end of I Won’t Apologize which is made up of only ‘meows’ (whoever is responsible for producing that drum and bass, hats off to you. Very catchy). Apart from that, the vocal ‘meow’ harmonies are incredible.
From a technicality point, the music is appealing in its simplicity. Clean, well-written guitars, groovy basslines that pack a punk-punch and rhythms that complement the two. These guys are extremely tight in their execution and despite the simplistic format, no song sounds the same. Justin really pushes his vocal range throughout, and for the most part he executes brilliance, however the strain is evident in the higher parts of the chorus towards the end of Royalty.
Whether you want to drive long distance singing at the top of your lungs with songs like Mayday Tonight, Hit The Road and Say I Do, or perhaps have a little too much to drink and dance to Bottles or Move while singing into a TV remote (just me?). Life Lessons is the happy-go-lucky music everybody needs on their playlist.
Favourite Tracks: True Love, Bottles, ‘Meow’ outro
Reviewed by: Sammy SF (more from Sammy)
Shots fired by: Sammy SF (more from Sammy)
Date: 5 April 2016
(More from The Metalist za on MADE FROM BROADWAY)
Follow MADE FOR BROADWAY on:
