Maverick
Quid Pro Quo

Maverick is probably most known as the card playing cowboy who strangely enough manages to get the hand everyone dreams of but never gets in that movie called Maverick. Mavericks is the OSX-version that runs in my computer and is a worse version of that operating system than the best one to date. Fewer know that Maverick is a Northern Ireland hard rock band who just released their debut album Quid Pro Quo - so they have stolen the album title from Status Quo and the name from a movie. That doesn't bode well, does it?

But they do exceed expectations according to the label’s press release: ”Maverick just released their first music video off Quid Pro Quo on YouTube, called Paint By Numbers. This has increased the demand for the record a lot more than expected; its view count has reached over 5,000 in just a few weeks and is steadily rising all the time.” Yeah and now just over a month after this press release was issued the view count is over 10,000, so it is steadily increasing to a view count that now exceeds the number of visitors we have in a week. Impressive, and this from a band that is said to be doing whatever it takes to get to the top.

Musically they have all the elements required to get there, simple enough songs that doesn’t require any mental capacity to understand. Simple straightforward rock music with a touch of roughness around the edges and a sort of eighties feel to it. Not very exciting for the one who is looking for the next big thing in musical styles but maybe for those who fear change, which is most people in the world. The vocalist is quite ordinary and the album is a bit on the long side playing for near fifty minutes on eleven tracks which feels like it is one or two tracks too many. The fact is that nothing on this album makes you stop and take notice, unless perhaps if you are a fan of the genre.

It is a decent album, a good distraction for a little while if you don’t play too much attention or listen too carefully to it. The songs are enjoyable and has good drive and energy in them, making them interesting to have as background when driving or working. But as I said before, it is nothing you sit down and listen to. I think that this band needs to find something else if they want to make it big, they lack that little extra that makes a good band great. But if they are willing to do whatever it takes, maybe they can find something that makes them more interesting.

Who knows maybe there is more to come from these guys but this album is a bit indifferent, they don’t really lift anywhere only one song really stands out. Considering the style it is a bit ironic that the band’s best song is called Paint by Numbers, just saying…

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