Miltown

by Carly Carioli

You have only to think back to Seaweed's Spanaway or Jawbreaker's Dear You to find a precedent for bands who've turned post-hardcore's searing, soaring micro-dissonance into caffeinated, hook-laced pop glory. Add Miltown to the list, and be quick about it -- in less than two years they've worked up a repertoire of fiery, heart-melting melodies and delivered consistently energized, cathartic live performances. The line-up is chock full of seasoned vets. Guitarists Brian McTernan and Matt Squire are fixtures on the DC hardcore scene (McTernan's also a sought-after hardcore producer). Bassist Jay Cannava played in World Seed; drummer Rob Dulaney has gigged locally with Ohm. And singer/lyricist Jonah Jenkins, formerly the frontman for the late, great Boston hardcore outfit Only Living Witness, has pipes most modern-rock bands would kill for.

"We all come from similar backgrounds, the common thread being hardcore and post-hardcore," says Jenkins. "But we all realized we had a really strong appreciation for pop." Albeit pop with a darker hue than most -- their "Delicate Fiction" is the catchiest tune about dismemberment I've heard since the Misfits' "Skulls," and their reinvention of the Cure's "Jumping Someone Else's Train" is just like heaven. You can hear both tunes on their just-released Miltown EP on Hydra Head, a compilation of their two existing seven-inchers. Recorded less than a month after the band got together, it's already a mature, well-honed effort, including a pair of songs ("No Matter," the Middle Eastern-tinged "Tales of Never Letting Go") that sound like blueprints for a new, crunching pop apocalypse. They've gotten even better since, and a major-label debut (on Irving Azoff's Revolution Records) is due this summer, for which they've just finished recording 10 songs with producer Toby Wright (Wallflowers, Slayer).