Song titles can be misleading. In the case of Houston trio O Pioneers!!!, for example, “Saved by the Bell Was a Super Good Show” doesn’t dwell on Zack Morris, and “The Architect of Disney World” isn’t about a theme park. Rather, nearly every song is about venting in the face of everyday frustrations: “Too many problems,” roars singer/guitarist Eric Solomon, while bassist Zak Klaine and drummer Aaron Ervin careen around him. Though there’s a fitting existential emptiness to “My Life as a Morrissey Song” and “Stressing The Fuck Out” says it all, mostly the band tacks on funny titles to alleviate so much roiling angst. Feeling as old-school as a Xeroxed fanzine, these ten short anthems summon ’90s indie rock as much as swaggering punk, in part because Solomon’s throaty vocals recall early Archers of Loaf and Samiam. Neon Creeps was recorded locally at Dead City Sound by Chris Ryan — thus “Dead City Sound” and “Chris Ryan Added Me on Facebook” — and looks like the band’s potential breakthrough. Touring through summer, O Pioneers!!! are plotting trips to Canada and Australia and are currently at work on no less than five split 7-inches. Now that’s old-school.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2009.