English Band Rock: Conner's Hello Graphic Missile

If you didn’t read my review of AutoVaughn, you should; that’s a pre-requisite for this review of Conner. However, if you’re not into the institutional constraints of pre-requisites which limits your course through the hallowed halls of the universities and higher education, then perhaps you’d like just to see a one sentence summary: AutoVaughn has a lot of 80’s rock sounds on their Space disc.

Conner picks up where AutoVaughn picks up—unfinished 80’s rock that needed to find fulfillment in the aught’s of today. “Silent Film Score,” the lead track on Hello Graphic Missile, lets James Duft sound oddly similar to Robert Smith in the early days of the Cure when they were still neo-punks slamming riff and rhythm together with that Gothic, ethereal sheen. Duft, though, deftly dons other accents to lend that Colin Hay (Men at Work) attitude or that wide-armed emphatic bandleader voice such as Kevin Rowland (Dexy’s Midnight Runners). That accent comes through mixed together on “OverFlow” which deliciously breaks down on a curry of Tom Wagner’s lead guitar, Bryce Boley’s drums, and Phil Bonahoom’s bass.

However, Conner isn’t just a collection of 80’s odds and sods of found sounds, because the band puts all of that meat and grinds it together with some tasty blues rock. Where you’ve had your purist blues rock bands that update that Led Zeppelin blues plagiarism, and where you’ve had your pop rock bands that trip the light fantastic with those Happy Monday keys, here Conner takes both tracks—blues rock swaggering to an 80’s England disco.

Thanks to Conner and Sonic Boom Recordings for the review CD.