"Plagiarized Those Lines Until My Hands Would Bleed"

The Stranger's Six
“A Date with Daylight” Review (4/5)

So glam rock really isn’t as dead as people say. Apparently on the West Coast, a band is about to release its reins onto a more national scale. The Stranger's Six is a 5-piece rock group hailing from San Diego, California. Though they haven’t seemed to have gotten the memo of the missing sixth member, they’ve managed to rely on their dark, relentless lyrics and finger dancing fret board moves to make up for that mistake. The Stranger's Six or “The Sixx” as they prefer to be called has a sound taking from all aspects of the rock spectrum including sounds from the recently extinguished Matchbook Romance and Victory’s sales palsy victim, Action Action. Their sophomore release, A Date with Daylight is something sort of ironic. An album equipped with dark tales and haunting melodies and the title of this cemetery drive mix is A Date with Daylight. Even with the oxymoron of an album title, the music is well worth the listen.

It’s surprising that with a band of this sound, there isn’t some sort of keyboard or any synth abuse at all. The Sixx managed to construct a sort of dramatic glam rock without having space sounds in the background. Every track has its’ own catchy beat with every guitar riff. Songs like “Love Letter” give a nice Midwestern rock feel with the constant guitar licks in the verses and bridges of the track. There are also times when even the most simplest melody is just as catchy as the most complex riff you can find. The track “Back to the Start” is a sure example of it, the riffs are so simple but so upbeat, it makes for fun dancing music. As stated before, they manage to take on a sort of dark feel not only using their lyrics, but with their guitar work. “Echo” is sung in such a low tone compared to a good amount of the CD. The guitars are a grip to the neck with the echo of the guitars. The Sixx seems to be full of irony.

Lead vocalist, Aaron Thompson seems to reinvent his tone of voice on a lot of the tracks. On each song, another vocalist comes to mind. It’s refreshing to hear a Nikola Sarcevic (of Millencolin) tone on “Skin Your Teeth” or an Andrew Jordan (of Matchbook Romance) tone on the single, “Echo.” Don’t enter this album expecting cheap compilation disc though, just a warning. The lyrics are really enjoyable; the tales of lost love and sleepless nights describe their possible drama filled lives in Cali. They do have a sort of positive track; “One Step Closer” is an upbeat story of coming out of things alive and a better person. There is optimism on this album, it’s just a bit harder to find than jealousy, revenge, and disgust.

This constant saying of The Sixx being the “new” punk rock maybe farfetched but that shouldn’t stop anyone from taking a listen. Also, don’t let the name dropping discourage embracing the album with a whole heart. Every song on A Date with Daylight is a trip which won’t be forgotten. Since it seems they’re pretty much limited to California shows probably due to their lack of funds. Once they hit the East Coast, The Stranger's Six will most definitely explode into a super band. It would be wise to take in the band and enjoy them before the scene hype gets to them.