The Kowalskis’ All Hopped Up On Goofballs

By Derek Phillips

So you like rock and roll and you want to “work it out,” as the kids say, but you don’t have five to seven minutes to monkey around? I’ve got just the thing. The Kowalskis‘ All Hopped Up On Goofballs is the cure for the common crap.

Based out of NYC, this foursome delivers perfectly packaged three-minute power pop tunes that give the likes of Scott Stapp a case of the runs. No pretense, no bullshit, just straight power pop the way Robin Zander used to make it.

But let’s not lump these kids in with the rest of that lot who nick riffs from Cheap Trick and wear skinny ties. No, the Kowalskis mix in a pinch of the Plasmatics, a dab of the Donnas, a touch of Tav Falco and a smidgeon of the Sonics to mix up a brew of garage pop that hits the spot.

There’s something about New York rock bands that make ’em trick their friends into posing in their undies for the album cover shots. The Kowalskis are no different and God bless ’em for it. The cover of “Hopped up…” is a twisted mélange of sexy gals donning their Saturday night/Sunday morning best, and it makes me crazy just looking at it. Get my lawyer on the phone and tell him to stand by, I’m going to New York!

I’m hoping my trip ends up with a “Sunny Sunday Hangover,” the kind best described in the first track of the same name on the Kowalskis’ debut. It’s a quick number clocking in under three minutes but has the tight guitar hooks, smash-’em-up drums and screaming fun vocals that makes the Kowalskis “100% Fun” — the name of another great track on this little package of good times.

We took a bit of heat this week for Johnny’s review of Andrew WK, a lunk-headed mook hell bent on turning a Prozac nation on to partying. Note to Andrew: this is how you write, perform and record good party music. We’re choosing sides here and I always side with the winner.

[While we can’t possibly write about every album that gets sent to GLONO HQ, we’ve got no problem with giving a little shout out to bands that send us really great stuff. If you’d like to send us something, please see the Contact page. – ed.]