Local group thought they would be ‘Stars Tomorrow'

Band of the week

Friday, July 3, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo Saxophonist Kevin Quinn has been with HydraFX since 2001. In an interview, Quinn explained the Solomons Island band's plan after the release of its first album in five years. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo Guitarist Greg Barrick has been influenced by 311 and Sublime. He founded HydraFX with his brother, drummer Joe Barrick, who has cited Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul as his primary influence. HydraFX's sound, in turn, blends dub reggae and hard rock. Click here to enlarge this photo

Drummer Joe Barrick once described HydraFX's music as "happy, get-down, let's-party music" heavily influenced by Sublime and 311. But the Solomons band, now a quartet, has long had a taste for hard rock, too, and the group shifts frequently between the two styles on its newest, 9-track album, "Lose Control."

Recorded at Waldorf's Nightsky Studios, HydraFX will release the CD at Hula's Bungalow on July 4.

In 2006, HydraFX, named after the effect Solomons' maritime environs had in shaping its aesthetic, made it to the top five of "Stars Tomorrow," a national competition sponsored by NBC.com. After submitting video of a local performance, the band was invited to an audition in New York and a recording session in California. The band's repertoire for the competition included two originals and two covers, including Sublime's "Santeria."

"Stars Tomorrow" — picture an "American Idol" for bands — began with 100 acts, and HydraFX made the final cut. The show, however, was troubled from the start and eventually sidelined to the Web. And while the Solomons outfit failed to take home top prize, they and the other five acts were indeed offered recording contracts — bogus ones that were subsequently rejected, band members said.

For HydraFX, the experience was both fortunate and unfortunate. The band played on national television; they had experiences local bands only dream about. Their hopes of stardom, nonetheless, were artificially inflated. "We just lost it," saxophonist Kevin Quinn said. "It was a morale buster. … We hit a low."

Represented by a regional booking agency, Starleigh Entertainment, HydraFX at least had gigs to distract them in 2007. But they were no longer so naÔve. And their fans wanted new songs.

If you want to know what the future looked like to HydraFX at that point, listen to the eighth track on "Lose Control," a collaborative effort called "Nothing Else Remains," in which happy neo-reggae guitar rhythms disguise what are otherwise lyrics of dejection.

As heard here, or on any other track on the album, HydraFX's style, in keeping with (and departing from) seminal dub reggae/ska groups such as 311 and Sublime, is truly a mash-up: While Barrick lists Pantera as his primarily influence, his brother, guitarist Greg Barrick, prefers the aforementioned groups. (The brothers founded HydraFX in the mid 1990s.)

Pop punk bleeds into party reggae tinged with rap rock and vice versa. Settle into a rhythm and prepare for some sort of departure — soaring pop punk reminiscent of Southern Maryland counterpart Minus-One, or solos featuring distorted guitar and twisting sax. (The opening track even has some vocals strained through a vocoder.)

"Blackwater," the third track, begins with screamo and segues into an airing of grievances regarding the Iraq War. The band blows off some more steam in the next number, "Face Melter;" in this case, though, the subject is relationship difficulties.

By track five, "Walk Away," the band has returned to an energetic blend of rock and bouncy reggae beats, a fusion of pop and garage rock and ska.

Interestingly, a cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" nearly made the album (and probably would have if recording costs were less of a concern). A video of a live performance can be viewed on YouTube.

"Honestly, I didn't believe it when I heard the news," said Quinn, who has been in the band since 2001. "We love Michael Jackson. He was a weird guy, but the music was great."

Now that the album is done, Quinn said the members of HydraFX, which includes bassist Sean Reese, will try to maintain a professional attitude while focusing on having fun rather than loftier dreams. They all have full-time jobs.

Still, the final track sounds like the backbeat to an out-of-control party, and the lyrics seem to synthesize both the band's pre- and post-"Stars Tomorrow" history.

"This is our time; we have arrived," the band sings.

In rap rock style, Greg Barrick then shouts out, "Put your hands! Put your hands up!" And whether they have arrived or have returned or have turned over a new page, HydraFX fans are almost sure to respond.

Consider this, as well: Sublime played its first gig on July 4, 1988.

If you go

HydraFX will release its new CD during a show at 9 p.m. July 4 at Hula's Bungalow, 23900 N. Patuxent Beach Road, California.