High Tension Wires

Midnight Cashier (Dirtnap)

Don’t call it a supergroup. High Tension Wires, comprising Riverboat Gambler Mike Wiebe, Marked Men’s Mark Ryan and Mike Throneberry, and Chris Pulliam of the Reds, may sound like a cathartic amalgam of the Texas garage punk scene, but the Denton-based quintet still owes more to the original punk wave of 1977 than anything else. Midnight Cashier, the group’s second offering for Portland, Ore.’s Dirtnap Records, kicks into gear with opener “Hibernate,” which balances razor-sharp Ramones riffs and infectious pop hooks, before the blitzkrieg bop of “Tokyo Is Burning Down.” “Wax Lips and Blood on the Telephone” hoists Wire’s Pink Flag, while “Not Enough for Me” and “They Fall Apart” borrows the Buzzcocks’ guitar fury. With 11 songs clocking in just over 22 minutes, Midnight Cashier wastes not 1 cent of its time or yours.

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This article appears in October 19 • 2007.

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