Dead To Rights - One Night Only

Dead To Rights

One Night Only
self-released; 2014

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Can we all agree that the older you get the less you give a rat’s ass about discovering new bands? From my own personal experience along with many conversations I’ve had the sweet spot seems to be about your late teens to early twenties. For a multitude of reasons some of the most prolific albums seem to resonate with you in your younger years. I don’t run into too many fifty-year-olds who grew up on Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple giving a hoot as to what the new, fresh twenty-year-old EDM producer is up to. 

I bring this up because after listening to One Night Only by Dead To Rights and looking at some of their pictures this was the first thought that came to my mind. The primary members Frank Farrow and Vince Applin aren’t spring chickens anymore and One Night Only if I had to guess is rooted in the music they appreciated and admired when they were teenagers or in their early twenties. 

One Night Only completely ignores or is completely oblivious as to what is ubiquitously appreciated by music aficionado millennial types. The band's music has tinges of artists from the late ‘60s and ‘70s but the most obvious to me was the ‘80s influence. From grunge on, the band isn’t having any of it. 

And let me make one thing straight. One Night Only isn’t some ironic homage to an earlier generation. It sounds like it was made a couple of decades ago. This album has no problem lying between Slippery When Wet and about any other arena rock, ballad driven album. The album contains ten tracks but in fact only six songs. How is this possible? Well four of the songs are acoustic versions of previous tracks that had been electrified. Remember when Bon Jovi went acoustic - yeah a bit like that.

The first track “Fallen Angel” sounds like a combination of AC/DC, Van Halen and more hair metal. The tropes are all recognizable and predictable but nonetheless enjoyable. “Your Love” is a classic ‘80s ballad while “So Crazy” is the closest the band gets to sounding like mainstream 2015 hard rock. “Not My America” is about as patriotic as the title indicates.

At the end of the day these song follow the structures, tones and tendencies of what was popular decades ago. That’s not a bad thing. I’ll probably be inclined to bust out Dead to Rights influences than One Night Only in the future but you never know. One Night Only will have an immediate appeal to those born before 1975 and the occasional millennial. 

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