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Like all great stories, San Diego’s The Soft Pack’s begins with two friends called Matt and Matty. Matty McLoughlin played guitar obsessively, Matt Lamkin also played guitar but fancied himself as a singer/wordsmith too. Armed with conviction and a fraternal dedication, the band returned to their adopted home of Los Angeles in the summer of 2009 to write songs for their self-titled debut. Highlights include the perfect one-two punch of the first two singles, “Answer To Yourself” and the rallying call, “C’mon,” The Vaselines-inspired “Down On Loving,” live favorite “Parasites,” “Tides Of Time,” “Flammable” and the hypnotic sway of “Mexico” — a song directly paying its respects to The King (Matt was listening to Elvis’ Blue Hawaii album). But perhaps the most arresting song onboard The Soft Pack arrives with “Pull Out” loads: A song, among many on this fine debut, that young boys in bedrooms will play on repeat when dreaming of forming their own perfect punk-rock-garage-rock band. Check it out!
