Doc Hammer’s Weep: Worn Thin (CD)

Product Description

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1. Snow Scenery | MP3 Clip
2. Let Me | MP3 Clip
3. When I’m Wrong | MP3 Clip
4. A Reminder | MP3 Clip
5. The Time I Thought That | MP3 Clip
6. Over Now | MP3 Clip
7. Calm Down | MP3 Clip
8. Ever Shy (Nov. Mix) | MP3 Clip
9. Worn Thin | MP3 Clip
10. Interlude | MP3 Clip
11. Right Here, Right Now (Jesus Jones cover) | MP3 Clip
12. Shut Up And Drive (Rihanna cover) | MP3 Clip

Worn Thin, the first full-length from NYC’s WEEP, takes their aggressive and firmly pop-structured songs to a place of heightened grandeur. Sweeping choruses, horn-driven verses, and lush production work seamlessly with WEEP’s guitar and drum-driven sound. At times the listener is reminded of The Head On The Door-era Cure enjoying the strange bedfellow of Catherine Wheel or Placebo. WEEP’s pilot, Doc Hammer (incidentally the same Doc Hammer who co-created Cartoon Network’s The Venture Bros.), brings his uniquely raspy vocals to the front on this release creating a bizarre but not unfamiliar kind of New Dark Pop.

On Worn Thin, WEEP maintains their hard edge and generates a sound filled with loosely-bridled emotions and powerful rhythms. Doc explains: “This is the record we wanted to make. It’s almost like a reactionary antidote to what we’re sick of in music. That dry, low-tech production of the past ten years is tiring. It’s in its footy pajamas, and it needs to take a nap. We wanted something lush and dramatic for the songs on Worn Thin. They usually relegate that kinda over-the-top production to Lady Gaga. But believe me, it works really well with a messy little band like WEEP.”

“It was fun pushing these songs to a place that most bands would feel goofy pushing them to,” Doc continues. “The vocals have three- and even four-part harmonies, which for a guy with my brass pipes, is no small feat. And we have string and horn sections that push the material right over the cliff. But at the same time, when we approached the guitar-heavy songs, we backed off all the bells and cranked up the amps. I guess we just took each song on its own and did everything in our power to present it the way we heard it in our heads. But we left out my mom telling me to take out the garbage. I have no idea why that’s still in my head.”

Songs like “Snow Scenery” and “The Time I Thought That” are almost radio-friendly guitar powered hits, aggressive in their approach to song-writing and performance. While songs like “Calm Down” and “Over Now” take that same approach and push it to dramatic and lush heights that the “radio” will never be comfortable with.

“I’ve been creating music my whole life,” Doc states. “I keep going back because it’s a challenge. Making a CD isn’t easy. It takes your heart and ego and mashes them together into a paste that people pick up and throw back at you. It’s not 1978, and nobody does this crap to be a rich rock star. Those days are over. I do it to make something that I love and find beautiful. And I want others to understand and fall for this beautiful thing, then be inspired to go and make their beauty, whatever it is… I don’t mind if they just listen to Worn Thin while they clean their bedroom, as long as that bedroom sparkles when they’re done!”

“I hate to mention that I’m the voice of Dr. Girlfriend, or I make The Venture Bros. Makes people think WEEP is some vanity project or something. But I’ve been in bands and have been releasing CDs long before there was a Team Venture. Listen, if you really want to be confused, look for my oil paintings online. Yes, I’m a guy that decided free time and a functioning social life are overrated. It’s a kind of an art-martyrdom… Somebody has to do it.”

As a testament to their idea of redefining pop-music, WEEP concludes Worn Thin with covers of Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now” and Rihanna’s “Shut Up And Drive” with a refreshing lack of irony. As if WEEP is just saying to the listener: “This is how those songs should go… You might like it our way.”