In this era of prefabricated and redundant teenage bands, Nor-Cal’s Five Minute Ride is a thousand-pound sonic bomb exploding with genuine teenage angst. Ranging in age from seventeen to nineteen years old, these guys have experienced more in their short lives than most band dudes twice their ages.
Shortly after the group’s debut CD, Bathroom Walls … Lipstick Secrets, hit the pressing plant, seventeen-year-old guitarist Alex Poole died suddenly of a bacterial virus. Whereas most bands would call it quits, Five Minute Ride is carrying on (bassist Josh Daley switched to guitar) — good news for anyone who hears this disc. Secrets is a powerful and dynamic CD that channels the spirits of King Crimson, U2, Slipknot, and Tool, wrapped in the real life trauma that comes with being a youth in today’s unstable world. The band hits its full stride midway through with songs powerful enough to give a first-time listener a black eye; singer Kurt Travis’ schizophrenic vocals effortlessly slip from a sweet tenor to a throat-ripping scream before you can inhale. Given the musicians’ young age and the power of this debut, Five Minute Ride is most definitely a band on the rise.
