released December 12, 2003

NOW WAVE MAGAZINE (USA) April 2003 The thing about garage punk is that it’s a hit-or-miss style. The raw power, savage fury, and stripped-down, simplistic charm of the music are all givens. If the songs are catchy, then the style is great. But if the songs aren’t catchy, it totally sucks.
The KIDNAPPERS play trashy, balls-out rock n’ roll that oozes sex, sweat, and bawdy adolescent attitude. And their tunes are, thank God, catchy. Catchy as fuck, in fact! The band’s debut LP is now on the street, and I haven’t heard such an infectious, wildly-thrilling garage album since The HIVES’ last album came out. Hell, these guys are even BETTER than The HIVES! Their lo-fi rock n’ roll onslaught kicks it in the tradition of The RIP OFFS, TEENGENERATE, and LOLI and THE CHONES (whom they cover here). After hearing about 500 mediocre garage releases over the course of the past few years, it’s a true pleasure to finally be floored by a band that totally GETS IT RIGHT! This is sheer genius rock n’ roll---a primitive, melodic basement blitzkrieg played with the joyous, million-miles-an-hour, thrashing exuberance of youth. Singer Beat-It screams like he’s having the time of his life, and every song is a rousing, propulsive firecracker of an anthem that makes me want to jump up and down, dance around my room, shout “Woo!”, and fuck all night! These guys are flat-out incredible: the ferocity of their playing could wake the dead, and lying beneath their raging wall of noise is a remarkable pop sensibility. Just when I was ready to give up on garage punk altogether, this killer trio comes along and completely reenergizes a played-out sub-genre. This LP is just PERFECT! Fuck The WHITE STRIPES. SCREW THE DATSUNS. The KIDNAPPERS ought to be the ones to save rock n’ roll. (JR)

BLANK GENERATION (USA) MAY 2003 I was a huge fan of the two HIGH SCHOOL ROCKERS singles so when I heard that they had reformed as The KIDNAPPERS and had an album out on ALIEN SNATCH!! I got pretty damn excited. And for good reason - this record is top notch! The absolute basics are still the same with a simplistic 1-4-5 chord structure to a lot of the songs, but instead of going for a more toned down RAMONES meets SUPERCHARGER overall feel as the HS ROCKERS did, The KIDNAPPERS make everything louder, faster and about twenty times more exciting. It sounds like they're no longer constrained by the feeling that they had to sound a certain way and can now write songs that are much better suited to their talents. There's a lot more of a rockin' swagger to this record which makes things more interesting and the vocals by Beat-It are totally screamed now as opposed to being "sung" as they were before. They even have the sense to do a spot on cover of LOLI and THE CHONES "Everybody Hates Me". This album is a total adrenaline shot right to the heart!!! Highly recommended (J

MAXIMUMROCKNROLL #241 (USA) MAY 2003 I dare anyone to make a better record this year.Seriously, this LP is the embodiment of what makes rock & roll great.It's catchy, it's trashy, it's fun and it's so fucking good that I am jealous. THE KIDNAPPERS are the all-grown-up incarnation of Germany's HIGHSCHOOL ROCKERS. Beat-it, Chris and Steve, they aren't as lofi and have incorporated the MURDER CITY DEVILS' boom-swagger brand of rock and roll(as well as their keyboard lines) to their Rip Off records sound.They even throw in a LOLI &THE CHONES cover that exceeds my expectations.This band can do no wrong in my book.This band could be one of my all-time favorites (BM)

CARBON14 #23 (USA) AUGUST 2003 THE KIDNAPPERS play totally enthusiastic and energetic rock and roll without the slightest bit of pretension or hipster posturing, which in this day and age is gawd damn miracle. Plus, these guys are barely outta their teens and can already play circles around half of their punk peers! Their hyper-speed UNDERTONES-meets RAMONES sound infects your stereo as soon as the needle pricks the first vinyl groove. The blitzkrieg blast of " A bit of your love" begins the album, then runs right into the snarling "Midnight Ritz" then pops into " close to you", quite possible the best power pop punk rawk song THE BOYS never wrote. The A-Side closes out with the pure primitive punk of their cover of Loli and the Chones "everybody hates me" and the frantic "teenage fever". Side B doesn´t let up, with cuts like the agitated angs pop of "break my heart" and "hard to say" as well as the full tilt Chuck berry chord driven rockers "marky nimrod" and "maximum rock and roll"

Josh Rutlegde SEPT 2003 Sure, I can tell you that the WHITE STRIPES are overrated and that The KIDNAPPERS are currently the best rock n’ roll band on the planet. But I can’t really tell you WHY. All I know is that every time I drop the needle on the KIDNAPPERS LP, I’m compelled to sing along, tap my feet, bob my head, shake my booty, crank up the volume, flip off my neighbors, and shout “Fuck yeah!” at the top of my lungs. When I hear the WHITE STRIPES, on the other hand, the only thing I’m compelled to do is switch the dial to the classic rock station in hopes that they’ll be playing “Highway to Hell” or “Satisfaction”. It’s like being a horny teenager and seeing that super-hot girl at school. Is it really necessary to try and explain WHY you think she’s hot? I mean, really, who cares? All that matters is that she gets you off. It’s the same way with music. If I wanted to, I could sit here all night and write about the KIDNAPPERS. But reading a review is a poor substitute for actually HEARING the music...

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