YHA, not the chain of youth hostels throughout the UK: Young Heart Attack are a 5-piece from Austin, Texas. Touted by their press as AC/DC with the B-52’s on backing vocals, yet a melting pot of Zeppelin, The Who, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Von Bondies is closer to the mark.
The album begins with the title track, a frantic fusion of screaching guitars, thrashy drums and the vocals of both Chris Hodge and Jennifer Stephens make for a more than interesting start. Their influences become ever more present on ‘Starlight’, the introduction of which has been lifted from ‘Won’t Be Fooled Again’, “I got a song for you, its on my stereo”, yes you have, it’s by The Who and it’s damn good.
‘El Camino’ begains with a rampant riff coupled with Robert Plant-like wails, which quieten to a fuzzy guitar meander through the Rolling Stone’s “It’s Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It)” and then back to Zeppelin. YHA unashamedly wear their influences on their sleeves, and why not … you gotta start somewhere. But the addition of Stephens’ oft-sultry oft-smouldering vocals add a new element, YHA take cock-rock, metal, good ol’fashion rock ‘n’ roll and ride that beast rodeo style.
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‘(Take Me Back) Mary Jane’ is the weakest track on the album (when will people learn to stop writing such Mary Dross), then the second half of the album finishes on a high. ‘To The Teeth’ hears Jennifer … “I’ve got nothing to lose, I’ve got nothing to lose” as a result they’re gonna rock. A nice cover of MC5’s ‘Over and Over’ is followed up by the persistant ‘In Luck’, “I’m in luck, I’m alright babe” … yes they are, the kids are alright.
The album is good - good guitars, good drums, good vocals but it’s that addition of those ‘B-52’ vocals that make it great. Look out Karen O, look out The Darkness, no longer will YHA’s be a place to get bites from bed bugs, YHA’s ‘Mouthful of Love’ has teeth and it bites (and rocks) hard.
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