It would have given me immense satisfaction to have announced that this was likely to be the second time that the 32 year old Roy Kerr was apt to have been issued a ‘cease and desist’ order; the first being for his cheeky, chart-seeking mash-up of the Strokes’ ‘Hard To Explain’ and Christina Aguilera’s ‘Genie In A Bottle’ and the second for the slightly awkward, identity switching ego trip, ‘Waiting For Clearance’. ‘Cease’, I could have shouted. ‘Desist’, I could have screamed, but the simple truth of the matter is that for all its patent lack of direction, its production savvy know-how, its blatant Madchester tourism and for all its apparent weightlessness, ‘Waiting For Clearance’ is a half-decent pop-album boasting a sparkling loopy title track and the presence of Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody on vocals and Iain Archer on guitar.
Admittedly, it’s been a long time coming. Roy started work six years ago on a collaboration with the Snow Patrol vocalist. Then Snow Patrol got a major record deal and Roy put out the ‘Stroke of Genius’ mash-up and that was the end of that. Since then, Roy’s gone from being a postman who made music in his spare time to remixing the likes of Christina Aguilera and ex-The Verve frontman, Richard Ashcroft and being remix-master of choice for the illustrious Fab Macca. True one can well imagine this swanky Essex man with his faced pressed up to his bedroom mirror in his baggies and his Henri Lloyd mack perfecting his Manchester swagger as he spits out the lyrics to ‘Lazyitis’ and cues-up his Screamdedlica CD, but that’s not to say it’s predictable. Set against the funky drumming, the loops and the loping psychedelia of spaced-out opener ‘Wating For Clearance’ and ‘You Can Cry All You Want’ are the floating, orchestral sweeps of ‘Send Me’, the Miami buzz-saw action of ‘Can’t Hide’ with Jan Hammer, the dystopian electro of ‘We Don’t Belong’ and the Moby-esque leisure of ‘The Sweetest Noise’ and ‘Want You To Know’.
Does he really know where he’s heading? No. Does he care? Probably not. The only thing really off target here is the moniker. Freelancing, yes. But hellraising?