Artist: Drive By
Album: I Hate Everyday without You Kid
Label: Riot Squad
Tracks: 11
Length:  43:33 (including a ten minute break of silence before the “secret” acoustic song on the last track)
Review by: John Durkee

Drive By is based out of San Diego, California with a surprising DIY attitude for a relatively mainstream sounding pop punk band, building their very own studio and self-producing their debut, I Hate Everyday without You Kid. While the band has darker tendencies on some songs with some gang vocals and heavier guitar parts here and there, Drive By is mostly a balance between Jimmy Eat World and perhaps Taking Back Sunday.

Vocally the album works in most ways, but on the ballads the vocals come off too forced and tend to grate on the ears. The singer isn’t horrible, but it’s painfully obvious he could use some vocal training, particularly since he sings out of his throat as much as he does.

For the most part I Hate Everyday without You Kid is pretty forgettable. It isn’t particularly bad, and there’s some good song structuring here and there on the record. For example, there’s a nice dynamic build and guitar line on “Black Triangles,” but for the most part the pop sensibilities of the record are pretty average. If you’re a big fan of the pop punk meets rock genre, then this is a pretty decent record, but for the rest, it’s a little less than average release that’s not worth much special attention.