http://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/review-courage-pills-courage-pills.html

The Courage Pills – The Courage Pills
2008, The Courage Pills

West Chester, Pennsylvania natives The Courage Pills have the right idea. Formed just two years ago, they already haunt the clubs and venues of Philadelphia with a sound that is steeped in punk rock energy and a pop-hook driven musicality that's bound to make the most cynical critic look up and take notice. The Courage Pills are no slouches as musicians either, with lead guitarist Michael Schramm featured in the March 2007 issue of Guitar Player magazine. Despite the recent loss of their original drummer, The Courage Pills continue to weave great pop/post-punk tunes in the same vein as Graham Parker's former backup band, The Figgs. The Courage Pills sent along a seven-song demo entitled The Courage Pills. Let's take a look.

The Courage Pills open with Way Down, an Americana flavored tune with an underlying punk sensitivity. The song is incredibly catchy with a bit of a garage sound to it (as if it were a live recording, which it may be). Open Our Eyes is a live recording, and is another incredibly catchy creature. The Courage Pills ride a big guitar sound and an almost Jim Morrison style vocal here to a bit of pop/punk nirvana. The melody will not escape you, recurring in your brain until you want to stomp on it. It's infectious and a lot of fun. Cut Back The Lawn heads for Americana territory again with a surprisingly smooth sound offset by electronic voice box supporting organic vocals. The arrangement here is wonderfully smooth and high brow and shows The Courage Pills broadening their range of sound.

Cemetery Song has a manic, almost new-wave sound to it. This is perhaps the song with the greatest commercial potential on the demo; although the vocal/guitar mix is very muddy and should be clarified (vocals and guitar are at the exact same level, meaning the vocals become lost at times). Cemetery Song carries the same sense of pop hook wonderment mixed with the frenetic punk energy that underlies much of what The Courage Pills play, and is thoroughly infectious. Dumptruck is a little more driven, sounding a bit like early Figgs material. Swan Song is a glorious romp with big guitars and an almost Pearl Jam style pomposity. For alt-rock fans, Rabbiteater is the song you come to the Courage Pills for. Easily their most complex composition from the material here, Rabbiteater shows a band jumping to the next level artistically. This particular recording is rough, but shows the distinct potential of the band as a future entity.

The Courage Pills are a young band at a crossroads. The first real personnel change is just behind them, and they show the restless tendencies of a band just starting to take wings and find its true voice. It's generally within the next year that they'll either explode into the band they'll become or implode into a mass of good intentions and lost potential. If I were a betting man I'd pick the former. The Courage Pills mix pop and punk in a style reminiscent of Ben Folds, and there is a real hunger for great Rock N Roll out there right now. The Courage Pills could be part of the answer.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about The Courage Pills at www.myspace.com/thecouragepills or http://www.thecouragepills.com/. It does not appear that The Courage Pills have any CDs or MP3s for sale online at this time. You can stream six of the songs discussed in this review on their MySpace page, although Rabbiteater is curiously not available. Perhaps if you message them through the MySpace account they'll sell you a copy of The Courage Pills.

    I have decided to leave the band.  Starting September 2nd, I will be working as a teaching aid at an elementary school just outside San Francisco through Americorps.  My duties will include tutoring, mentoring, and running after school programs for the mostly poor and Hispanic student body.  It is difficult for me to explain, but I feel that with my education comes a moral obligation to help those who do not have the same advantages and privileges that afforded me the opportunities to achieve my education.  I grew up in a loving house with a supportive family that not only gave me the encouragement to educate myself, but the economic means to do so.  It simply does not feel right for me to stand idly by while there are so many people in this country that are in need.  Poverty, drug addiction, and crime are all intrinsically related to a person's education level and the program I am doing makes empowerment through education its primary goal.
    It is feasible to do this kind of work locally and still play in the band, but over the past year I have been plagued by a sense of restlessness.  I have always known this area as home, and I have reached a point in my life where I must get out and see the world; I want to see it with my own eyes.  It has been too long since I have felt that unsettling fear and excitement that bursts into your mind the second you wake up and stays with you throughout the day that comes from trying something new and straying from the beaten path.
    The decision to leave was an incredibly difficult one for me to make, but I have reached it with great thoughtfulness and integrity.  Yes I have pondered the idea that in a year or two the Courage Pills will be headlining national tours and Mike's sex tape with an 18 year old playboy bunny will be available for download, and I am okay with that.  Actually, I would be better than okay; I would be damn proud and very happy for all of you.  I had better get tickets and sweet merchandise for free though.  Music means so much to all of us and this band has been the tangible expression of that passion.  For the rest of my life I will cherish the great memories I have had with each of you as friends and as band mates.
    As for my replacement, I will leave the decision completely in your hands.  I realize the difficulty that my departure will create, and if you choose to start integrating my replacement before I leave at the end of August, I will not be offended.  If you need suggestions for a replacement, I could gladly help by calling my drum teacher for some names.  He knows our music, and I believe he may be able to suggest someone that is talented and fits the band.

Hello. We recorded a five song demo at a studio, and it's available for listening, as you may already know. That's right - five songs! I wish the music player became larger to accommodate the extra track instead of adding a scroll bar, because the scroll bar isn't especially obvious.  Although, probably only one in twenty people listen past the second song on any given MySpace as it is, so it doesn't make that much difference. I imagine the odds of a person listening through all four tracks, and then being like, "Wow! A scrolling bar function has allowed me to bring into a view a fifth and final song!" are pretty slim.  Which is too bad, because Rabbit Eater kicks ass. If you do, however, listen to all of our songs, then thank you. We've worked really hard on them. They are our babies - our dirty and sultry offspring. Let them impregnate your mind and tickle your soul, won't you?