True to their alcoholically inspired name, sober reflection and thoughtful delicacy really have no place in the Dipsomaniacs' music. Fueled by cheap beer and cold pizza, the New Jersey based band play a raucous but melodic brand of power pop, more Replacements and early Cheap Trick than Raspberries and Badfinger. The Dipsomaniacs formed in 1995, with singer Mick Chorba, guitarist Ron Mitchell, bassist Doug Keith, and drummer Tom O'Grady releasing a self-produced demo, Dumbhead, later that year. Their first true album, Smaller Than Life, came out on the appropriately named Face Down label in 1996. Matt Maciolek replaced Keith in 1998. Undertow followed in 1999, and after appearances on a handful of compilations and tribute albums, including the Bay City Rollers tribute Men in Plaid, the quartet's third album, The Life You're Faking, was released in October 2001. ~ Stewart Mason