Okay Paddy

The Cactus Has A Point

(Prison Jazz)

Record Review by Amber Henson

Okay Paddy sometimes sounds so much like Weezer that you could probably play me select tracks by both bands and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.  It’s not that vocalists Pat Finnerty and Mike Quinn particularly sound like Rivers Cuomo; instead, it’s that they employ the same sort of melodies, just without whatever equation Cuomo came up with to rule the pop rock world.

But Okay Paddy also stand alone as their own band.  Who else would write songs with titles like “Time for a Tailor,” with the lyrics: “Most of my suits were taken in at the boots, that’s how I liked it at the times,” and then an ending with an upbeat, minute-long organ solo?  Or “Furrier,” which starts with basic John Mayer guitar and ends with a country twang?

This album consistently has this sort of old-timey sound to it, like it should be played at Bob’s Big Boy for the skating waitresses to deliver food along with (yes, they still have those places, although the only place I know of is in Burbank, and they only do it on Fridays).  But I digress.  Often times during the album, there is simple humming along, or the repetition of the lyrics like “How to spend all this gas money?”  If Okay Paddy can keep going with this kind of sort of unusual pop rock, then perhaps they can really find their own niche and make a name for themselves.