from San Diego Troubadour's December 2003 issue
CAN ROOKIES SAVE POP?
by Robert Woerheide

Until I met Rookie Card, I thought pop was a dirty word right up there with commercialism and target market. But that changed when this San Diego band, fresh from a turbulent, lengthy formation and with demo CD in hand, showed me what pop could really be. Their first release (First Day of Class) is a collection of well thought out songs delivered with confidence but not presumption. Rookie Card, consisting of founding member Adam Gimbel (Lead Singer, Rhythm Guitarist), Nasrallah Helewa (Percussionist), Jason Hee (Bassist), and Dylan Martinez (Lead Guitarist) is doing everything it can to get noticed these days. And that sticky moniker, pop, is following right along.

"I'm totally fine with that," Adam explains. "I think more than anything I write pop songs, and we dress them up different ways: country, indie rock, blues, whatever. I'm geared to write something that's catchy, and I hope that is the main mission of what we do. Pop to me just means a catchy song, and we're all about that." This may be true, but for many of us the term pop still has a bad aftertaste. If Rookie Card is pop, then it is pop at its best, pop the way it should be, pop on artistic steroids.

Proof in point: First Day of Class is really only a demo, but it has managed to get Rookie Card considerable attention in San Diego and garnered a nomination at the 2003 San Diego Music Awards for Best Local Recording. Adam tells of their surprise at the nomination: "We were shocked. Our CD says right at the top that it's a demo. And not just a demo but a debut demo. To have it nominated for Best Local Recording was just unreal." The four song demo has been re-released to include seven songs, and can be picked up at Lou’s Records, M-Theory Music, The Muse, and Off The Record.

What makes Rookie Card remarkable is their energy and conviction, coupled with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek humor. Whether it's coming up with anagrams for their band name (they're up to 16, including OREO KID CAR and I ADORE ROCK) or lacing their songs with careful sarcasm, these rockers maintain a palpable wit. This wit is something Adam recognizes with reluctance. "(Humor is) a small part of our music, I'd like to think. I'll try to be interesting or clever...but most happy, fun music I think comes off cheesy. We try to make well thought out, good music that might have something a little clever in the lyrics. We don't want to be a novelty band."

So what do they want? Fame and success? The two seductive tangents of the rock 'n roll triangle, sex and drugs? Fortunately, they are able to see past such artistic distractions. "If I could snap my fingers and (get us) huge success that's not really what we want," Adam says, "but if we could quit our day jobs and do Rookie Card full time that would be great. The problem with trying to be a musician is you gotta have a day job. We (recently) went on a four day road trip and just had so much fun, and kept saying it would be so great if we could do this full time."

In the meantime, the band has its sights set on the future. "We're going back into the studio to record an album. We've got enough songs we're happy with to make a record, and still have some left over. We're going to take some time to get our CD out to more people; record labels and press outside of San Diego. We're trying to impress some folks and spread the word." The album, tentatively titled Near Mint, will feature 12 tracks and should be released sometime next spring or summer.

If the songs on their debut demo release are any indication, Rookie Card's first official album should definitely get them noticed. In a remarkably short period of time, they've managed to leap the hurdle so many other, more experienced bands continue to trip over: maintaining a sound all its own, without releasing an album full of tracks so similar to one another they become patently redundant. The only thing redundant about Rookie Card is the satisfying nature of their songs. Like sherbet on a summer day, these guys couldn't have come around at a better time. Just in time to save pop but no pressure, guys, honest.