The Wellingtons and The Bolts

The Wellingtons “Hey Hey” EP
Once again Aussie Zac Anthony is back with a new The Wellingtons EP. “Devil In A Cardigan” starts us off with a warning about his clingy ex-girlfriend. It’s a pitch perfect song with a dense middle eight, designed to induce goosebumps. It’s easy to keep gushing over a band that made it to #2 in the top ten list last year. But the quality power pop just keeps coming, from the light bouncy “Hey, Hey” and IKE-like heavy guitar riffs of “Under The Power Of A Girl” both full of hooks and ending with “Another Drummer Down,” a casual ballad about losing a drummer to pick on, where he asks “Am I the problem?”  No Zac… not at all, now get a drummer and make another LP.

The Bolts “Fall” EP
Irvine, CA band dazzles with its debut EP, a combination of rock and pop that proves you can crank out guitar gems like “Walk Away” along the lines of Extreme and Collective Soul, but still have sunny harmonies on “The Truth” akin to Phantom Planet. Since 2007 the band has been winning local “battle of the bands” competitions, eventually leading them to earn the title of Orange County’s ‘Best Pop Artist’ from the OC Music Awards.

The bands three Farmer brothers (Addam, Heath and Austin) help make those harmonies shine on “This Can’t Be Real” and “We May Fall.” The Bolts have plenty of energy and compare well to The Stokes, Jet and The Killers. By all accounts they are a huge success as evidenced by a ton of commercials using their music. A full length is expected by 2013.