Slow & Steady Rocks the House:
Hot Rod Circuit has made it “the hard way,” by growing over time.

Of today’s high-energy, distortion-soaked, “my ex-girlfriend was mean to me and boy am I pissed” rock n’ roll bands, Hot Rod Circuit is the Salieri to Dashboard Confessional’s Mozart. For nigh-on a decade, this band of Alabama natives has toured and recorded incessantly, winning awards and inking record contracts, only to watch others gain coveted hero status with high school kids nationwide.

“Music’s not a competition,” comments Andy Jackson, the band’s co-founder, lead singer and guitarist. “We’re happy with what we do. This band has never grown in leaps and bounds, but nothing has ever gone backwards. Everywhere we turn is a new experience. It has always felt like we’re going up a ladder.” Jackson’s subtly defensive tone gives the impression he’s a little tired of this line of questioning. After all, a number of bands have skyrocketed to rock stardom after riding Hot Rod’s touring coattails, including Dashboard, New Found Glory and Saves The Day. With the release of Reality’s Coming Through, an effervescent collection of loud, confident rock songs, Hot Rod Circuit looks to finally ignore its trusty ladder in favor of an elevator. Packed with fist pumping anger-management anthems, Reality is sure to ring true with second-place finishers of all shapes and sizes. It’s an adrenaline-fueled document of a band with tortoise-like wisdom, slowly and determinedly running the race to mainstream success.

“Everybody’s getting older,” Jackson explains when asked about the evident personal and musical maturity on the new album. “We’ve finally found ourselves. This band was started because of Superchunk, Archers of Loaf and Dinosaur Jr. – indie-rock growing up – and now we’re taking on music differently. Nothing we do is completely innovative; it’s only rock and roll, after all. But we’ve all grown musically, and you can hear the difference.”

The album’s closer, “Moonlight Sunlight,” is the best example of Hot Rod Circuit’s steady evolution. A winning combination of somber verses, exuberant harmonies and a joyous, rollicking chorus, the song is the perfect coda for this brooding, cathartic record. “It’s the only track on the record that came out of a jam,” Jackson explains. “That’s more in the vein of the way we used to do things, but the song sounds nothing like anything we’ve ever done.”

“Moonlight Sunlight” completes the most well-rounded album of Hot Rod Circuit’s career, one birthed from years of living day to day, always moving forward, ignoring the speed of the passing rabbits and striving to come up victorious in the end. Reality’s Coming Through is a reflection of this exasperating struggle. When Jackson screams, “I fucking hate you!” over the churning guitars of “Fear The Sound,” you’ve got to wonder if his anger isn’t solely directed at an ex-girlfriend. Perhaps it’s a result of his band’s epic quest for Celebrity – a girl in chemistry class who has consistently rejected Hot Rod Circuit’s invitations to the winter semi-formal.

Appeared in Rockpile.

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