Even in their earliest recordings, Charleston rock band The Fire Apes pulled as much pure-pop magic from the most joyful, cheery, and melodic corner of the British Invasion and mid-'60s U.S. pop hits — from the McCartney side of The Beatles and the peppiest tunes by The Kinks to lovey-dovey hits of The Monkees and Burt Bacharach. In the recent years, frontman John Seymour — the singer, guitarist, and main songwriter — assembled a rotating local lineup, collaborated with various studios, and hardened some of his newer material with an edgier, modern pop-punk sound.

On the band's most recent studio demos with producer Sean O'Keefe (he produced recent discs for Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights, and The Plain White T's), there's quite a bit more fancy instrumentation than on previous Fire Apes releases. "Don't Break My Heart" bounces with saloon piano, woodwinds, Ringo-style tom 'n' snare fills, Bacharachian brass, diminished chords. The riffy "Cause You Don't" bashes with more punkish garage-band aggression and fuzz, resembling some of the recent output from Swedish garage-rock band The Hives. The fast-tempo New Waver "Lori" sounds like a hidden gem on side B of Get the Knack. The slow-waltzy, kaleidoscope-eyed "Six and a Half Years" swings with beautiful accompaniment from members of the Chicago Symphony-Orchestra. So far, so good for the Apes this year.

Source: Charleston City Paper