Album Notes

Garage indie-pop with leftist political themes. The band includes former members of Neutral Milk Hotel, The Gerbils, Orange Pop Chicken and the Lean-tos, and have been fortunate to share stages with such performers as Elliott Smith, Jon Spencer, Dub Narcotic Soundsystem, The Softies, Versus, The Decemberists, and Mojo Nixon, as well as hundreds of amazing lesser-known bands. Based out of Portland, Oregon, the members hail from such diverse locales as Baton Rouge, San Diego and Syracuse, NY. Individually, the members of Ross and the Hellpets have been playing rock, punk and other types of indie music around the U.S. for over 12 years. They've existed in their current form since the fall of 2000.

Launching immediately into the driving satire of "We Vanquished Terror", Optimism keeps the political criticism high with fuzzy tones that recall Imperial Teen and J-Church, dirty rock a la The Cramps, and even a Sanskrit chant. Joined by his bi-coastal bandmates, The Countess Von Hellpet and C. Baker, Ross tackles topics like campaign finance reform, and predicts a bleak future in which even oxygen is privatized.

"...while his overall sound can be cuddly and make you feel warm all over, his songs have a ferocious, hard-to-forget bite."
-Fred Mills, Magnet Magazine

"Fuzzy vox, fuzzy layers of guitar make for a fuzzy good time. This Louisiana native makes efficient pop with a melody substantial enough to remember after the song is long gone..."
-Andrew Dansby, rollingstone.com

"If indie rock were ever in need of a sophisticated, genuine songwriter, now would be the time and Ross Beach would be the man."
-John Wenzel, SPONIC