When I was but a lass of 17, my friends mostly consisted of cowboys, headbangers, musicians-- the dregs of my school's society. Consequently, I had a good deal of distaste for those on a higher social plane than I. I reserved most of my rancor for cheerleaders and drill team members. Oh, how I hated the inanity of it all. I hated the big smiles and high kicks. I hated the routines, the horrid music they performed them to, and the phony pretense of school spirit under which they performed them. Which brings us to a band by the unlikely name of Drill Team.

If Tonic and Failure collided in an alley, they'd sound awfully like Drill Team. Lead vocalist Michael Long's voice resembles that of Third Eye Blind's Stephen Jenkins (especially when it elevates into its middle and upper registers), although his vocals aren't nearly as expressionless. "Overflow" is described is described in the press kit as "an example of white- trash rock at its most mini- mallistic" (hey, they said it-- I didn't!) and judging from the way Long and his bandmates pose and sneer on the CDs back cover, this representation suits them well. On "Twit," the quartet fluctuates so rapidly between a slow, mellow guitar verse and hard- and- fast riffs that it's impossible to pinpoint where its focus lies.

Drill Team's efforts aren't altogether meritless; their melodies are listenable but uninventive, and their lyrics ingenuous but predictable. Consequently, it's easier to dismiss them as another product of the commercial rock machine that cranked out Matchbox 20 and Candlebox than to search for their barely visible artistic value.

-Susan Moll