I remember the sweaty excitement of seeing The Jam in a small club in Birmingham before their debut album hit the shops. Given that wrinklies like me are not their target audience, the most I can wish for The Spitfires, a quartet from Watford, is that they find a fan base to enthuse over their sound in a likewise manner.
Just as Paul Weller was nicking all his early riffs from early Who singles, lead singer Billy Sullivan are brazenly co-opting that Mod meets Punk attitude into the 21st Century.
Sullivan has the snarling Weller-ish vocals down to a tee and he writes similarly about working class endeavour and/or laddish love songs.
A slow and melodic number like Spoke Too Soon proves that this isn't simply mindless copycat stuff or, as he puts it, "this ain't revivalist nonsense".
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More predictable, but still dynamic, tracks like Discipline, Stand Down and I'm Holdin' On are strident and direct with energy to spare.
The Spitfires defiantly wear their hearts and influences on their sleeves as if to say: 'Sure, we're derivative, wanna make something of it?'
Plus, they've got the gear, the beer and the ciggies. What could possible go wrong?
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