Challenger 7 /Rollercoaster split 7 Inch

Label:	Hellfire Club Records
Released:	1999
Tracks:	Payola Bi-Polar Kylie 6 Million Dollar Man

Rating: 4/5


Challenger 7 play guitar driven power pop with a harder edge, especially now that Stewart ‘Leadfinger’ Cunningham (ex-Asteroid B6-12, Brother Brick, Yes-men) has joined the band. The two songs included here, Payola and Bi-Polar, are both the ramshackle style of rocking power pop that I’ve come to expect from Challenger 7 and are a strong improvement from their disappointing Morris CDEP. The excellent Payola is the better of the two songs although Bi-Polar contains some appropriately psychotic guitar. Top stuff.

The flip side contains two songs, Kylie and 6 Million Dollar Man, performed by the short lived Perth power pop band, Rollercoaster. The songs are strongly reminiscent of the Chevelles more rocking moments, which comes as no surprise seeing Rollercoaster was a one-time side project for the Chevelle’s Duane Smith. Both songs benefit from some great lead guitar courtesy of Grant Ferstat while still remaining a strong sense of melody.


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