That fabled fine line between clever and stupid exists solely for records like this. Dynamite Hack or Amazing Grease Records guitar-pop for 15-year-olds played by American dudes creeping toward middle age? Sorta creepy, somewhat embarrassing. That same guitar-pop played by Swedish dudes creeping toward middle age ... but sung in Americanized English? Hmmm. "Emo-core," someone mumbles. But Chester Copperpot has more in common with lunkheaded pop-punkers like the Mr. T Experience and the Queers than with today's screamo TRL stars. Its sunny, jangling chords are wasted on puerile choruses, crushing crushes, jobs that suck, weird parents and Fredrik Karlsson's vocals, which always sound this close to sobs. Or outright puking. They're making me do stuff that I don't have time for/Sometimes it feels like they're running my life, Karlsson whines. And nobody has to lose any sleep trying to guess what "Let's Make Out" is about. A campy test drive but not quite worth putting a deposit on.
