An old BBC review. It's a pity I didn't just print the comments of my Sheffieldian mate, getting apoplectic with rage about "mindless Rizla monkeys", and turning the immortal phrase, "this is what I left the North to fucking escape"! The Young Knives may be known to you now without the definite article, as seen on T4 or whatever: they used to be brilliant though, but you'll just have to take my word for it.
Tim the BBC Ox editor, introduced this review with the line "David Murphy was left cursing the day The Bandits rode into town", which is great, and far better than my hurried signoff. I was tempted to write something decent now, but I feel it's good for my humility to print 3rd rate reviews from the dim days.
Pretty sure I never heard of JOD ever again...
THE BANDITS/ THE YOUNG KNIVES/ JOD, The Zodiac, 4/03
Firstly, an admission: I hadn't seen JOD before, solely because my cursory eye always confused them with JOR, a band I never liked; my loss, if tonight is anything to go by. JOD play powerpop, but powerpop in the sense of simple, arching songs drawn in big bold strokes, rather than the blocky bluster of the Undertones school. The singer's yearnig vocal is powerful, managing to dominate the songs, and yet avoid dropping into the embarrassments of an angst-ridden confessional.
The biggest surprise in store is how funky they are. Alright, they're not Parliament, but the songs hide some bouncy secrets: "Oliver Twist" sounds as thought it might launch into the Dr Who theme, the second track boasts an elastic two note bassline that The Chemical Brothers might find a good home for, and "Sparks" opens with a clattering drum pattern.
Speaking of which, the drummer plays simply, but effectively, flailing around like a two-legged octopus constantly feeling around for the other six limbs. Seems to enjoy it too. It all adds up to a most pleasant half hour. JOD won't blow you away, but they may provide a stiff refreshing breeze. And they're better than JOR.
Not much has changed since I last saw The Young Knives a few months ago (not even their outfits), but I'm not complaining: three pottery teachers jerkling like new wave robot penguins, talking rubbish and chopping out spiky slices of sound, pitched somewhere between Iggy and The Pixies. "Walking On The Autobahn" still sounds like The Banana Splits, the bassist still begins meaningless anecdotes at every opportunity, and it's still a cracking show. Bands who are this consistently good make for hard-to-write reviews, though...
You may have heard that The Bandits sound a bit like The Coral, and you'd have heard right. What you have to decide is whether "The Coral" translates as "widescreen intelligent rock with an eclectic bag of tricks," or "bunch of stoners reheating some baggy cliches with a couple of exta guitar sounds thrown in". I'm afraid I subscribe to the latter opinion.
It's the supposed eclecticism that most grates, the theory that old Charlatans castoffs can be excused by massaging a few sounds...as if Animals drums, Gram Parsons guitar and Doors bass is a particularly wide range of references in the first place. Lots have turned out tonight to see six petulant swaggerers (two of whom just muddy the sound) churn through forty minutes of crass youthclub doperock, so maybe I'm wrong, but I hear nothing that even hints at subtlety, originality or excitement. Sometimes a guitar solo limps in to try and add life to the event, but it's as effective as the desperate addition of a car chase to a drab TV movie. Who'd have thought banditry was so lacklustre?
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