Month: October 2003

Vitality is one thing. Shouty, pedestrian punkiness is enough. There’s nothing substantially wrong with the Toronto-based Billy Talent debut release, but with the exception of the blistering and the grungey single, ‘Try Honesty’ there’s nothing substantially remarkable either. Perhaps more emotional, edgy and less bubblegum than their animated peers, Sum 41, this is still the kind of breezy, featherlite punk the US has been peddling now for years. However much the anarchy is provided by proxy; Johhny Lydon vocals, serial killer Continue Reading

There’s nothing to get excited about on the surface. Go on, scratch it. Maudlin acoustic tap-alongs, 4/4 beats, tales of rotten loves and life straying off the tracks. It’s the ingredients of a scene that for its chosen moments a few years ago nobody broke a heartstring forgetting about in a hurry. But just listen. That colloquially mesmeric, warm, leathery, North-Western English vocal twang. It’s like John Lennon clambered to his feet and staggered off into the New York night Continue Reading