Blink 18-who?
Perhaps you are not aware of the band members of +44 (named after the dialling code for UK), so I'll fill you in. The main two are of course ex-Blink 182 members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, who are also joined by Shane Gallagher (The Nervous Return), and Craig Fairbaugh (Transplants, The Forgotten, Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards).
So the big question is - Do they sound like Blink 182? Well, like Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus has a distinctive voice which will always be associated with Blink 182, and whereas Mr DeLonge has left his sophomore-ish past behind to go on an epic musical journey, that may perhaps only set himself up for a fall in his vague, meandering revelations, +44, could be best described as to what we would have expected Blink 182 to evolve in to. It is a million miles away from Blink's last self-titled album,but more of what the follw-up to 'Take Off Your Coat And Jacket' would've/could've sounded like. On 'Lycanthrope', the music is simple and of mid-tempo, and you can picture a smile on the face of Mark Hoppus, and it's interesting to note that in the chorus there are back up vocals that sound like a more acceptable version of their former bandmate's nasal vocals. It's almost a message that to them Tom DeLonge is easily replaced, and whilst he is out finding himself, Hoppus and Barker are producing music which Blink fans will lap up.
My sources tell me that as good and fabulously infectious, as this single is, the others on the album are better still. Sounds good!
I'm not a betting man, but my money is on +44's debut album 'When Your Heart Stops Beating', outselling Angel & Airwaves, experimental (and very good, I may add) album 'We Don't Need To Whisper'. I wonder if they'll tour together...?