Too Bad Eugene is a pop-punk band that was formed from a couple former members of Craig's Brother (Adam and Andy). Moonlighting is their Tooth and Nail debut CD, but they first they signed with Rock City Records ('owned' by Mike Herrera of MxPx) and released their debut album At Any Rate.

Pop-punk has become a very tired genre. It's becoming increasingly difficult to hear pop-punk bands that have anything remotely interesting to offer musically; much less trying to get past most of their scrambled messages, varying between 6th grade adolescence humor and whiney heartbreak music. As difficult as decent pop-punk can be to find, Too Bad Eugene doesn't do too shabby of a job pulling it all together.

It's very difficult to hear the Craig's Brother influences coming through (Premodern Donna 2:24-2:45, Bad Guy 0:54, Morning Song 1:15), and it definitely works in their favor for the overall sound. Unfortunately there are also some less desirable parts (the applause/cheering between Condolences and All At Once... we know you're not playing a live set so virtual fan-fare over the music is trying at best). Some parts are far less than appealing (the chorus to All At Once is a little too similar to Sugar Ray's Answer the Phone...)

On the up-side, TBE is full of developed bass lines that make the music stand out among their peers' simple same ol' formula of surface deep instrumentation. As far as hooks, there's a plentiful amount of sing-song chorus' that will force you to move (the little 'Wa-ho-ho Wa-ho-ho-ahh' ditty at the end of Morning song will be stuck in your head for at least a couple hours)

There is a fair amount of somewhat deep and introspective theological thought that makes them excel from their contemporaries in the 'Christian punk' genre. A good example of the theological thought would be their final track Soli Deo Gloria; which is by far the most emotional and venerating track on the album.

Overall, it's not a bad album if you are a sucker for pop-punk; but unlike what the website suggests, it's not the best thing you have heard, ever.

Mike Frost
www.buzzgrinder.com