Music Review – The Ballas Hough Band

Ballas Hough Band

The wonderful peeps at the One2One Network sent me the newly released Ballas Hough Band CD to review.

EQUATION: You all know all about Dancing with the Stars. What you may not know is that Mark Ballas and Derek Hough – two of the professional dancers paired with the stars – sing too! So – not only are they great teachers and dancers (they’ve each led their partners to victory) they’ve got this side gig going and recently released a CD, the self titled Ballas Hough Band, on March 10th. Maybe you can’t call it a side gig. They’ve been making music together for over 10 years. They wrote over half the songs themselves, and “Do it for You” was cowritten with American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi. The Ballas Hough Band will be hitting the road for a national US tour in the summer of ’09, and the One2One Network is getting them some much deserved attention. Along with those two headliners, you’ve got: Emily Grace (keyboard/vocals), Sam Marder (bass), and Harry Sullivan (drums).

The track listing for BHB is as follows:
1. Do You Love Me
2. Devastated
3. Closer
4. She Was The One
5. Longing For
6. Birthday
7. Fall
8. Do It For You
9. Breakthrough
10. Together Faraway
11. Underwater

You can follow them on facebook, MySpace, and their website.

As for the review – I should tell you where I’m coming from.  First – I have eclectic tastes.  I like a little bit of everything, and while I don’t play any more for a host of reasons, I’m trained in clarinet, flute, piano, and pit percussion.  I’ve played everything from the classics, to marches, to scores, to pop.  So – I listen to everything, but I always have a different spin on things.

PLUS: It’s catchy.  It’s really catchy.  It’s pop-y.  I found myself bouncing my head before a lot of the songs really got started.  It’s musically sound.  They can sing.  For me – this would be perfect music to clean to.  I know that doesn’t sound like a plus – but it is in my head.  It’s something that I can get things done to.  It’s a bit boy-bandish which could be a plus or a minus.  I can’t decide which category THAT little tidbit should go in, but hey – boy bands can rock it, so I’m putting it on the plus side.

MINUS: It’s a little bit formulaic.  There’s no surprises here.  I hesitate to say this – but I think that they may attract a younger demographic.  I’m not saying ‘tweens young – but say early 20′s females.  That’s not necessarily a minus, but it does limit their reach.

EQUALS: I think that this is a fine starting effort.  They’ve all been playing together forever, so I think they’re going to go through some growing pains finding their market and making their true voices shine.  But if they plow through and do the work, they can really come through to become a successful band that lasts.   So, all in all – I’m keeping the CD, and giving them a positive review!