Chuck Ragan did it. Tim Barry did it. Chris McCaughan did it. And now Chris Wollard has released his first solo album after spending years in punk/post-hardcore giants (and one my favorite bands ever) Hot Water Music. But don’t be fooled by all these guys, after playing in the (albeit lesser-known) pop-punk band Allister, I self-released a solo acoustic album called The Simple Life back in 2002. I’m the pioneer! LOL!
Anyhow, Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves recently released their self-titled debut on No Idea Records and it is different than I thought it would be. The album starts with two songs that originally appeared on Wollard’s split with Mike Hale and then meanders through a myriad of different takes on what we loosely like to call Americana. Wollard does straight ahead rock-n-roll like “No Exception” to pop tunes like “Same To You” to more country-tinged numbers like “Oh Whatever” and slower quieter folk songs like “Hey B” all with an easy rootsy sensibility that you’d expect from a guy who spent time co-fronting Hot Water Music with Chuck Ragan.
Unlike Chuck’s solo stuff, the songs on Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves are less raucous and more even-keeled. In fact, I’ve heard some people refer to the album as somewhat “boring.” And while he isn’t charting any new musical territory, nothing could be further from the truth. I think it is the difference from HWM and the tempered nature of Wollard’s debut that makes it work as well as it does. Instead of going straight into the old-world folk-driven totality of Ragan’s Feast And Famine, the Wollard album sounds wholly modern and contemporary in comparison. Different but good and well worth your green. Oh yeah, get it on vinyl.
MP3 | Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves – No Exception Chris Wollard & The Ship Thieves
