EP Review: Hi/Jack – Rank and File (Self Released)

Drummer Ron “Hi” Terrell and guitarist/vocalist Max “Jack” Liam met in Milwaukee’s underground music scene in 2014, becoming fast friends and a collaborators. The band released a debut full length, No Cover, in 2015, followed by a live album in 2016, Turn It To Ten in 2017 and the Sunny Side Up EP in 2018. Now preparing to put out the EP Rank and File on December 6th 2019, Hi/Jack looks forward to taking their “hi/energy” rock to the masses.

It’s certainly very energetic music Hi/Jack play. Very garage hard rock with all the bounce and groove to get the dance floors moving. Don’t Wanna See You Anymore racing away as if they’re getting paid by the riff. It’s catchy as all hell or at least as catchy as the next track TFBIWW of which there are two versions, the first the explicit version and the second, the more radio friendly.

What’s so explicit about it? Well, the acronym is actually “that fucking bitch I work with”. There’s a lot of swears which kinda does distract from the bouncy punk-rock beat but it will still get the foot tapping along. The radio edit sees all the swears replaced with more radio friendly words. So instead of “that fucking bitch I work with” we get the way more pop-rock “that crazy chick I work with”.

Finally we get Better Now, a highlight of the EP as the garage rock sound is really turned up here. The rougher edge to the guitars is welcome and the disjointed vocal style works well.

All in all, a decent EP.

Hi/Jack – Rank and File Full Track Listing:

1. Don’t Wanna See You Anymore
2. TFBIWW (Explicit)
3. TFBIWW (Radio Edit)
4. Better Now

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