The Soft Pack: The Soft Pack

By: Mukta Mohan, Staff Writer

To promote the release of their self titled album, The Soft Pack formerly known as The Muslims, embarked on a crazy endeavor – to play ten shows in a single day. They started at 10 am and traveled about 100 miles around Los Angeles. There day started off by playing at record stores, house parties, beach gatherings and ends with their final ultimate destination, Nomad Gallery at 12am. Riding through this journey in unique vegetable oil powered Blue Bird school bus called “Greased Lightning”. The idea of this undertaking came from the creators of the FYF Fest, Sean Carlson and Keith Morris.

These San Diego garage rockers had to change their band name from The Muslims to The Soft Pack because “people were too stupid and misinterpreted the name,” says the guitarist Matty McLoughlin. So their name changed, but their sound sure didn\’t.

Their self titled album is too poppy to be punk and incorporates several catchy melodies but still maintains a sense of garage band revivalism. In 30 minutes, The Soft Pack delivers 10 fun summer tracks. Lyrically, the songs range from the upbeat “C\’mon” which is about the hype that surrounds upcoming bands to “More or Less” which warns against materialism. Still, songs can get repetitive as seen in the line “Down On Lovin” which is sung 18 times on the 2 minute track of the same name.

Most of the songs tend to blend together, as they all have a similar style. The only deviations to this would be the sweet summery track “Mexico” in comparison to the jangly “Parasites” which is composed of unyielding guitar fuzz and grouchy vocals. The fact that they\’re placed next to each other is purely brilliant juxtaposition.

If you\’re looking for a more clean-cut version of The Muslims, The Soft Pack delivers.

A few fun questions answered by Matty McLoughlin:

Q: Your first album as the Soft Pack was released on February 2^nd. What does it sound like?

A: Cheap Pop.

Q: Who are your biggest influences?

A: Rodney Dangerfield and people we don’t like.

Q: When did you start making music? Why did you start?

A: Started playing guitar when I was 13. Started a band because I hated myself and everyone around me.

Q: When you\’re not playing gigs and making music, what do you like to do?

A: Watch baseball.