The High Score: Sexy Losers

Knoxville, Tennessee isn’t exactly the Volunteer State’s largest Mecca of musical talent. Having lived there for a large part of my life, I can safely say that the “scene” was there, but there weren’t a whole lot of breakout acts amongst the crowd. We did manage to produce the likes of the Judybats, Superdrag, and the V-Roys. Each of these bands have seen successes both large and small, but none really slapped Knoxville on the rock and roll map as some place to look toward for a large musical boom in the way other cities in the States such as Austin, Texas, or Portland, Oregon, and even good old Detroit, Michigan have. And when you have Nashville on the other side of the state to contend with, well, you’re pretty much going to be overshadowed no matter if the scene is better in K-town or not.

I no longer live in Tennessee, but before I moved, I did review a series of local compilation discs put out yearly by radio station WNFZ, entitled Southeast Exports. These compilations show Knoxville to have a wide-ranging grasp of musical styles within the bands it contains. The later editions lean towards a harder rock sound, while the earlier discs are all over the place. So it would seem that perhaps Knoxville has a hidden pocket of talent waiting to be unleashed on a wider scale. That may very well be true, but if it’s one thing I did notice about the majority of these groups it’s that a number of them just aren’t sure where to go next outside of “The Strip” (formally known as Kingston Pike, a stretch of highway that runs from the town of Kingston, Tennessee all the way up through the college district of Knoxville and the University of Tennessee). Some bands wind up touring outside of the area, while others are content to play the local clubs.

Aside from that, there just haven’t been a whole lot of local record labels to really support these acts. Lynn Point Records is a newer label, formed by former V-Roys members Jeff Bills and Mic Harrison. And they seem to have a hit on their hands with one of Knoxville’s newer acts the High Score and their debut album Sexy Losers. The disc has managed to pop into the top 25 at WUSC’s college station. These guys have toured through a good portion of the southeast as well, getting their name and sound out there. For the most part it seems that they’re on a solid trajectory of getting their heads above the Knoxville waters.

But having listened to Sexy Losers now a number of times myself, I can’t help but feel these guys could be a lot tighter. A few of the songs here have good frameworks for what could be terrific songs, but the core of the tunes feels lacking. The High Score are not a bad listen at all, but they could certainly use some fine tuning to really make the case for a breakout act.

The best thing about this band is the guitar work. Two members here, Chris Cook and Robbie Trosper, share guitar duties, so I’m not sure who is playing those lead lines, but to whoever is cranking out those notes, kudos to you. The riffs in “She Don’t Love Me” and the solo in “Laid Up” are really super. Bassist Dave Walker and drummer Jason Peters hold the rhythm section steady in an amiable fashion as well.

The High Score cite such acts as the Replacements and the Pixies as influences, and that’s probably from where a bit of the rag-tag execution comes. At times this sounds just fine, as on “Laid Up”, but on other tunes like “Call It Vicious” and “Motley Who”, the sound kind of gets swallowed up by the uncorked energy. This can undoubtedly be a great thing in a live situation, but on record it can come off sounding a little messy, which it does here.

However, most of the tunes here are pretty good, save for one entitled “Mohawks and Birkenstocks” that’s a bit of a noisy rave up and what I am assuming the “novelty” track on the disc. It sounds out of place and like a bit of an afterthought compared to other songs here. The best track (and song title) is “Songs to Break up to ’95”. Here, the High Score is as tight as they can get, the guitars pinning down the funky groove perfectly and the vocals delivering the hooks. It’s a really good groove and one that I think the band would be great at exploring further in the future.

“Let the Stupidness Begin” is a bit slight, sounding a little punk-ish. These guys are definitely better at just rocking out in their own formula rather than chasing down other trends. “Let It Go”, on the other hand, is another one of those great chunky songs featuring terrific guitars and vocals. Indeed, this band has something great looming on their shoulders. If they could only harness those superior moments and forge them into an album that ditches the sillier moments, then I think they’d really be a contender for bigger success.

Sexy Losers would have made a hell of an EP. As it stands, however, it’s split about half-and-half between the really rocking and the half-baked. Yet I am impressed with the overall energy and sound these guys obtain. They’re certainly a lot better than the number of hard rock acts that hang out in Knoxville and are clinging to some kind of odd mixture between Creed and nu-metal. Here’s hoping that the High Score pull its few loose ends together and finally put Knoxville on the musical map for a bit longer than some of its former breakout groups have.