Close to main-event status

Any popular pop-punk act nowadays survives just as much on their over-produced, over-synthesized music as they do on cutting-edge MySpace layouts and glamorous publicity stills. And even though Arizona’s The Maine seem cut from that exact cloth, the band is surprisingly bearable. After a quick rise in 2007 that saw them release two EPs and sign with Fearless, they’re back with their debut, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.

On this album, The Maine deliver what they should: simple, catchy pop songs about girls and young life. None of the members are that great of musicians, nor do the songs surprise whatsoever, but they have that something that propels bands into stardom. After a few listens, damn near every track sticks in your head.

More than anything, the band needs to be heralded for sequencing this record perfectly. People generally get bored – especially The Maine’s target audience – so it’s crucial to put the majority of your strong tracks at the jump, and they’ve done that.

The first five songs are probably the best here, and definitely better than anything on their previous EPs, which all featured the same exact riff over and over.

The opener, “Everything I Ask For” is truly obnoxiously catchy, and there’s no outstanding reason why. It moves along at a semi-quick pace, but doesn’t soar in any way, and vocalist John O’Callaghan’s deep drone isn’t impressive. But once you get to the chorus and O’Callaghan kick in with “Oh she makes me feel like shit/ It’s always something/ But I can’t get over it/ She thinks it’s nothing/ But she’s everything I ask for” your brain is done.

The latter half of the record isn’t quite as strong, but really only because all the tracks end up sounding similar, which is to be expected with simple pop-punk like this. The one-two punch of “Count ‘em One, Two, Three” and the insanely over-produced “You Left Me” keep everything just fun enough.

Even if you want to hate The Maine, they make it really hard. They’ll never win any originality awards, but each track here delivers a sugar rush like no other.