In support of their Invasion Tour, Drive-Thru Records has released a compilation CD featuring the small indie label's top sellers, and has called it, aptly enough, The Drive-Thru Invasion Tour Compilation. The small, indie label's take-no-prisoners/d.i.y. punk spirit bleeds through on its web site (where it openly refers to label execs as "lame a** schmoozers") and it is this spirit that is the unifying sound of all their acts. They are MCA-distributed, giving them broader access to make or break resources like MTV, radio stations, and, most importantly, record store chains. The label is as proud of the newly minted partnership as they are of the control they still claim over their artists and their records (they retain all rights to their recordings). "If someone has the nerve to call us sellouts," they declare on the site "then they need to re-evaluate the term."
Mostly what fills the compilation is previously unreleased tracks from the label's most successful acts. Senses Fail's previously unreleased "Bite to Break Skin" opens the collection with a charging and utterly traditional American punk track (think Blink 182). The softer acoustic version of A New Found Glory's "Head On Collision" is a nice, rocking gem. The Starting Line's well-loved "Best of Me" is immortalized with a newly available and electrified live version.
Steel Train's "Blown Away" swings and saunters along with Brit-pop flavored percussion and piano along the lines of Paul Weller's Jam. Lucky buyers can get a jump on the soon to be released EP from The Early November (due out, ironically enough, on November 5) with the metal meets punk single, "Something That Produces Results." The Early November was previously known for a surprise appearance on the Warped Tour where they earned an easy comparison to their idols, Jimmy Eats World. Other Drive-Thru acts included on the disc range from The Movielife, Allister (with "Overrated" and some of the best ska rock since No Doubt), Home Grown, and Hidden In Plain View. Drive-Thru certainly has the potential to take a handful of hard working indie bands and repeat the success of influencing label Epitaph and their mega-successful Warped Tour. Should the Invasion Tour miss your town, make sure that its compilation does not miss your living room stereo.
By Rachel Parker
