Lower the Bar

Lower the Bar is the fourth album, recreating 1980s glam metal's form with exaggeration and humour. Released in March 2017. The previous year they had put out the live record Live from Lexxi's Mom's Garage and a feature film — by this point the band's activity no longer fits inside music alone. The title is self-deprecation itself, and that stance runs consistently through the whole record. The flashy guitar, springing rhythms and sing-along choruses work not just as parody but because they genuinely understand the hard rock of that era. The gap between the lyrics' venom and the seriousness of the playing is this band's greatest appeal. Here too they line up simple, flashy songs while properly guarding the tightness of the performance and the strength of the melody. The ballad “That's When You Came In,” the self-mocking narration of “Wrong Side of the Tracks (Out in Beverly Hills)” — the highlights are scattered throughout. The close places a cover of Cheap Trick's “She's Tight.” A record you can laugh along to while your fist still goes up.