Off By One

Off By One - "Off By One" San Diego's Off By One formed two years ago by three friends who derived their name from the fact that they didn't have a bass player in the band. Two years and a bass player later, they have released their self-titled debut on LMC records. What we get is a tight, slickly produced power pop rock album full of nicely blended harmonies and catchy radio-friendly songs. If you like the full one-third of modern rock on the radio influenced by Green Day, there is no reason not to have "Off By One". In fact, the musicianship and production make it better than most similar releases. My beef is that this style of music is so limited. Despite musically cliche songs like "On My Way", a typical alternative post-punk pop song, Off By One still shows underlying potential and depth in songs such as the acoustic-laden "Try" and "Change", with its background "kiddie chorus". When Off By One revs up Ednaswap's "Torn", made popular by Natalie Imbruglia, it actually serves to make their original music sound richer. John Bishop is a more than competent guitarist for this genre and showcases his individuality on songs like "Mr. Universe". In fact, there's not a single band member who isn't nailing it. The question is, how long will they be content with being limited by the constraints of "post punk pop rock"? Off By One's bio mentions "punk" no fewer than five times and inside the cd is a "warning" that states "Off By One thinks you and your mom suck ass." However, not one song on this album lives up to this "attitude". If you want to listen to punk, listen to the Dead Kennedys or Fear. If you want to listen to pop rock, you could do much worse than Off By One. They certainly know what they're doing and this album could be Off By One's foot in the door. Twenty years from now, if they continue to grow, shred the boundaries of power pop and build upon the solid rock that lurks beneath their radio-friendly sound, their discography will truly be "Off By One"