The Dials Issue #26

Flex Time (Latest Flame)

By Bill Copeland
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 4:11pm

The Dials have come up with an above-average collection of fun pop-punk songs on their latest, Flex Time. Their sound is a perfect blend of pop, punk, and garage that comes together to create a very accessible work that’s never as raw as pure punk but never as sweet as pure pop rock.

Patti Gran’s guitar is always edgy but compact, never reaching the attack quality of hardcore punk. The Dials’ three ladies, Gran, Emily Dennison, and Rebecca Crawford, sing in the harmony style of pop, but their timbres are that of tough girls hanging out on a street corner. Drummer Doug Meis, who was killed in a car accident after the band finished this recording, put down a perfect pattern in each song; his energetic and intricate drumming drives each song forward while holding each together with a muscular sound. Dennison’s Farfisa organ makes it mark as an indelible part of the Dials’ sound, giving the songs more texture than what is usually found in this genre and forging the band’s 1960s influences with garage and punk from later decades.

A bass, organ, and guitar break in the title track shows how well these players fit together and how solidly their sound has gelled. Sounding very modern and slightly ’60s at the same time will make the Dials popular with different age groups.