Holding Out - ​The Garage EP

Holding Out

​The Garage EP
self-released; 2016

3.3 out of 5

By Ted Rogen
​

Holding Out, a four-piece alternative/punk rock band from the North East of England (Newcastle), is comprised of Ellis Paul (guitar/vocals), Ryan Hubbard (drums), Jason Toward (guitar) and Charlie Sanders (bass). The band started earlier this year and already released an EP entitled The Garage. The EP is aptly titled as that's where the demo quality EP was recorded.

Bands usually need at least a year or two before their own signature sound starts developing. In the case of Holding Out they are wearing their influences which is more or less the last two decades of pop punk on their sleeves. For better or for worse the band sounds like bands ranging from Green Day to Blink 182 - distorted power chords, nasally teenage sounding vocals, etc on a couple of the songs.

The band has some talent and with some practice they could be another celebrated pop punk band. They will need to tighten up a bit because the band occasionally gets out of the pocket with these live recording. All three of the songs sound similar and are derivative of the pop punk sound. They are anthemic with lots of energy. And like pop punk the songs will be embraced by a younger generation. This is not the music that people above the age of thirty-five gravitate towards.

For as little as the band has been together I was impressed with what I heard. That being said this band has a way to go if they want to compete with the best in this genre. Besides staying in the pocket they need to work on figuring out how they are going to differentiate themselves from a genre that is already oversaturated with thousands upon thousands of bands. They will need to think about that if they hope to stand out from the crowd. I'm forward to seeing how they evolve.

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