Four more lads with feather cuts and terrace trainers? Another indie band from(or perhaps just based in) Manchester? You’ve got it! They’re Salfordians to be precise, from Irlam - one crazy one-horse town west of Eccles. This is predictable-as f**k indie rock-by-numbers that conforms fully to the overblown ‘big tune’ stylo made popular by the brothers Gallagher some 14 years ago – but the word on the street is good, thanks to a series of mesmerising live performances in and around the locality.
‘Catch The Fever’ tackles the big rock subjects, like selling yer soul t’devil and suchlike. Thought-provoking it ain’t. But it’s a tuneful enough number (without quite being ‘a tune’, if you see what I mean). Lee Braiden’s keyboard carries the melody (a gap that you may well be able to fill, as the band are currently on the hunt for his successor). Those synth sounds come underscored by shed-loads of rattling guitar as the song works its way through C, F and G7- all the way past the reprisal to a subtle bass-hook climax.
Amongst the three songs included on this demo, singer John Mackie hasn’t come up with any ground-breakers, but his voice is strong, and stripped almost free of FX as it carries the emotional content with ease.
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Acoustic in essence, ‘Something Stirring’ might well reflect the same ol’ high-fallutin’ aspirations (to become a stadium-rocker of bridge-taking proportions), but it’s well mixed in a way that highlights the drumstick and cymbal sounds beautifully. The progression of the track (easily the pick of the three) comes courtesy of Joe Bennet’s thumping fills. The keys return for ‘In The Sun’, but the epic sound does not, as the trance thickens and the pulse dips ever so slightly.
Athough you know the score in terms of what’s on offer musically as soon as you clock a photo of the band, there is enough spirit here to ensure that their appeal is carried beyond just the die-hard fans of this brand of shoegaze.
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