The Flys: Outta My Way : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Hollywood pop-rock band the Flys fancy themselves a gnarlier version of the Beach Boys. They lack the craft and ambition of their idols but make up for it with a lively rhythm section and some wonderfully bashed-out tunes. Everyday things seem to disturb or delight them: "Damn, I've seen some fine-ass girls," lead singer Adam Paskowitz asserts on "No Sad Story," a minor-key rocker that opens the quartet's third album with high-garage riffs and vocal harmonies. "She wants to be friends," Paskowitz fears on "Losin' It," a song whose well-composed verses turn into unnerved choruses, "and, damn, you know what that means." On "Fire in the Pit," he declares, "The world's gone mad," then lies back, deploring the rat race within a delicate, dub-led groove that shows off the band's unstudied flair. "Damn!" is a lithe, melodic remembrance of Nirvana; "Helluva Time" combines punk reticence and party outbursts. Without seeming to, the Flys make a lot out of their noisy, surfy, beachy world. (RS 839)

JAMES HUNTER