Music Style Indie-Rock, Attack Pop, DePop, SpeedGazer , ShoeGazer

Musical Influences Husker Du, Guided By Voices, Archers of Loaf, Swerve Driver, My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, The Damned

Similar Artists Husker Du, My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver

Group Members Kevin Cougar: Vocals, GuitarsMr. Bennie: BassesBernard Cook: Drums/Percussion

Instruments Guitar/Vocals, Bass, Drums

Albums Solar Coaster

Press Reviews The London Times 5-1-99: Solar Coaster deal in breakneck melodic emo-core,as tuneful as it is passionate. What sets them apart is what they add to the blueprint - mesmerizing psychedelic guitars, My Bloody Valentine-esque bursts of dreamy noise, the poignancy of prime Husker Du. Sure, they are in thrall to a litany of American underground godheads, but they deploy their influences with considerable taste and originality. A stunningly impressive debut. Dirtmagazine: http://www.dirtmagazine.com Featuring dreamy, transcendent guitar work -- a stylethat is currently a dying art form -- pounded out ina classic, blistering punk ferocity combined with ephemeral,almost hallucinatory lyrics, Solar Coaster is a bandon the edge of progressive music. The white noise is so thick it's tangible, wrapping you in a warm blanket of fuzzy happiness. Sad and angry, poppy and furious,your emotions will be shredded right along with your ear drums. This is a beautiful album from start to finish and absolutely relentless in its brilliance . . .THE BEST NEW BAND OF 1998. Wire - May 1999. . . Solar Coaster sound fully energised from the start, with high velocity guitars chiming and echoing above the accelerated rhythm section. Their mixture of spacious aerodynamics and speedy delivery with a melodic center which recalls Husker Du's "New Day Rising," but Solar Coaster execute it with panache. There's barely a dip in quality throughout, although its impact would have sustained better at two thirds it's length. Punk Planet - March/April 1999. . . if you like indie rock with the emphasis on rock, then you should check out this record. Toronto Star 3-13-99. . . Solar Coaster fare better overall with a speedy, relentlessly onrushing sound that recalls the glory days of the late 80's and early 90's. Resurrecting the tuneful noise aesthetic of vintage Swervedriver or Dinosaur is probably clinging too tightly to indie-rock orthodoxy for most hipster's tastes, but i'm resolutely old-fashioned and simply happy that bands like this still exist. Singer/Guitarist Kevin Hurley has that neat playing style that blends voice and strings into a huge harmonic whole. The rhythm section mercilessly pummels these 20 economical tunes, which zoom by in an ecstatic Doppler-effected blur. Very good. Copper Press: On the moon, buzz has it people are weightless. Eat all you want, you'll still be as light as a feather. On earth, Solar Coaster's music makes you feel weightless. From the fervent, rapid-fire guitar riffs that produce a dizzying buzz of blissful, distorted noise to the airy, charged vocals and the determined rush of bass and guitar, this twenty song debut launches the listener immediately into orbit from the first note of the first song and keeps one floating, disoriented, like a buoy on a placid lake, weightless and bobbing. Pitchfork Media: The first time I heard Solar Coaster I thought to myself, "They sound like the Kingston Trio on acid." Problem was,I myself was on acid at the time-- a really solid dose of windowpane, actually, and my judgment in music (and everything else) was highly suspect. Hell, every time my telephone rang I thought it sounded like Thurston Howell III gargling with brass polish. I found out later that Solar Coaster, despite the fact that they are indeed three, don't sound like the Kingston Trio-- not even a tiny bit. They're actually North Carolina- based combo steeped in tuneful punk. If anything, they sound a bit like that other trio, Hüsker Dü. But I'm not going to fault a band for lacking originality when their music is this well done. This is super- melodic guitar/ bass/ drum noise of the highest order. Like the Kingston Trio, Solar Coaster do have an amazing way with the chord change; unlike the Kingston Trio, Solar Coaster play their chords on an electric guitar with the distortion pedal to the metal, running the whole shebang through what have to be some killer vintage tube amps. How else to explain the incredible beauty of this ringing, trebly, wall- of- sound guitar tone? And zipping around beneath that guitar is a nimble, kinetic rhythm section that keeps these short (only four of the album's 20 songs run longer than three minutes), fast tunes moving. Wow, I love it. Also like the Kingston Trio, Solar Coaster write wonderfully tuneful melodies; unlike the Kingston Trio, it's hard to hear what frontman Kevin Hurley is singing about, since his voice is buried like a shimmering case of spent plutonium, miles beneath a protective layer of noise. But even at these depths, there's no mistaking that the songwriting is strong as hell. Maybe Solar Coaster are angry, and maybe not-- I can't understand a damn thing. But again, I love it. And if you like melodic, noisy guitar rock that bears little resemblance to the Kingston Trio,you'll love it, too. Kerrang - Jan 2000: In the burnt-out warehouses and dilapidated basements of Brooklyn, sonic terrorists Oneida and Solar Coaster are leading the charge against corporate alt-rock. Welcome to a world of public urination, sexual deviancy and ' beautiful music from f**ked up people'...

Additional Info http://hometown.aol.com/solarcoast

Location Winston-Salem, North Carolina - USA

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