   | There's nothing like a road trip and some Sirius XM radio to discover some new music. I was spending the weekend with Rosencrantz and Sacajawea. Rosencrantz taste in music tends to run more alt-rock. Through enough repitition and a stop in a McDonald's parking lot I take the time to write out the name of a song and the band singing it. The 888 are my new musical obsession. I don't know if I can call them an obsession. They only have four songs out, all of their debut EP Decades. Four songs is hard to judge an artist's merit, but the four songs they've released so far are bangers. The song that grabbed me was the opening “Critical Mistakes”. It's complete with lyrics discussing the desire to wash all of the mistakes they've made in the past. Specifically referring to , “critical mistakes”. The song holds up well with some extremely well timed electronica, ocean waves, and radio worthy alternative pop. |
I've noticed the song is in rotation on the radio at work, so it might not be long before the trio breaks through and becomes this years Foster The People.
| The trio consists of Danny Stills, Danny Cooper, and Aaron Rothe. This isn't the first time they've worked together. Previously they were all involved in the metalcore band Drop Dead, Gorgeous. They've since dropped the screamo with the 888. Drop Dead, Gorgeous was not a success worth mentioning. They mined their MySpace followers for chart placement and found them harder to get out into the stores to buy their music. Only one of their albums charted. The Hot N Heavy at 197. The ever switching line up with Drop Dead, Gorgeous (eleven people switched in and out of the main group) and it's lack of commercial success lead them to disband. |   |
This isn't the first new band to come from the ashes of the group. Bleach Blonde was convened in 2013, but the project no longer has any backing. 888 is their chance. A rebranding from the boys you can't bring home to mother, to the boys with the beautiful souls your mother will swear are on antidepressants.
  | The 888 have not created anything groundbreaking with these four songs they've released. Greg Prato wrote in a review of Drop Dead, Gorgeous that “they sound identical to all the other bands mining similar sonic terrain, with not much separating them from the rest of the pack. I don't listen to enough alt-rock to tell you if they've successfully separated themselves from the rest of the pack with the 888, but the four songs they've released although not moving the genre in new directions are damn good. If they can deliver an album with that level of song craft, they should have no problem. |
One thing missing from the 888 is their Mattie Healy. They don't have a heartthrob strung on heroin for all the college girls to throw their panties at. They also don't have Matty's artistic vision that's made The 1975 so popular.
Mattie Healy
Still if “Critical Mistakes” is anything to go by. The 888 are a band to keep an eye on.
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