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Written by Jason Green Wednesday, 24 January 2007 13:35

The sound of the Velmas is the sound of every radio rock band of the last ten years or so shoved in a blender, resulting in a homogenized mush of everything "alternative."

The Velmas were a cover band in their early days. One listen to their second album, Station, and this fact will not surprise you. The sound of the Velmas is the sound of every radio rock band of the last ten years or so shoved in a blender, resulting in a homogenized mush of everything "alternative." The Velmas don't have much of an identity of their own, with straightforward and unremarkable instrumentation and a lead singer who has Wes Scantlin's generic alterna-whine down cold. There are a few catchy melodies that would make for decent radio singles ("Turning," "Where'd She Go"), a cheeky punkified cover song (Lionel Richie's "Hello," far limper than when Me First and the Gimme Gimmes beat them to this gag three years ago), and everything is up-tempo enough to keep a drunk crowd moving at the local watering hole, but that's about it. It's not good. It's not bad. It's just there. C- | Jason Green

RIYL: Puddle of Mudd, Third Eye Blind