Paddock Park - A Hiding Place for Fake Friends
Rating
RIYL
Across Five AprilsHawthorne Heights
Underoath
A Day to Remember
Release Date
11/11/2008
Label
Eulogy RecordingsTracklist
1. Give Her a Pill to Shut Her Up or Make Her Mute2. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
3. I Only Regret the Summer
4. You Can Lift Your Dress Like Nobody’s Business
5. It’s Not Running Away if You Have Somewhere to Go
6. HopeyoudieXO
7. The Walls Between Us
8. I’ll Swing My Fists
9. Forgetting Alli Mae
10. I’m a Man of My Word
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Paddock Park are a hardcore/rock outfit from Ocala, Florida trying to ride the same wave of success as fellow Floridian acts A Day to Remember and Underoath. On their debut full length, A Hiding Place for Fake Friends, they use a mix of melodic choruses along with breakdowns and other clichés used in this genre, but they don’t do it nearly as well as their peers.
Brian Calzini and Jason Neil share vocal duties for Paddock Park, with Calzini screaming and Neil singing, and for the most part this arrangement works out. Unfortunately, though, after a few tracks have gone by, it becomes apparent that Calzini only has one type of scream, and Neil’s range is quite limited as well. Couple that with the band's uninspired songwriting, and you have a formula for an extremely boring first effort.
A Hiding Place for Fake Friends offers virtually no substance to listeners, and all of the songs sound exactly the same, making it hard to decipher where one ends and the next begins. Additionally, the transitions within the songs sound forced and awkward at times, especially when going from a breakdown to a chorus. Speaking of breakdowns, there are just way too many that are long and drawn out on this album. The guys in Paddock Park need to learn how to sound heavy without relying on breakdowns or throw them out altogether to pursue a more focused rock sound.
Surprisingly, the best song on this album is the hidden track, which is a stripped down version of the fifth song, “It’s Not Running Away if You Have Somewhere to Go.” With acoustic guitars and simplified drumming in the background, Jason Neil has a chance to showcase his singing abilities. Throughout the rest of the disc the vocals are completely one dimensional; however, the hidden song shows that Neil has the potential to be a versatile vocalist with the right kind of music backing him. It’s disappointing that listeners only get to see this side of the band at the end of the album, assuming they stick around that long.
Paddock Park aren’t a terrible band, but they’re playing a style of music that has already been done to death and offer nothing new to the genre. A Hiding Place for Fake Friends is a weak first effort but does show some potential for the band; they mainly need to clean up their song writing and add more diversity to the music. With the recent departure of both the vocalists who performed on this album, it’ll be interesting to see who replaces them and what direction the band takes going forward, assuming they even stay together.
--Nicholas Fritz
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