Ok, so you get two blog posts one after the other today, as I've just brainstormed a new feature I want to start straight away. This one is "Random Bands Who've Started Following Me On Twitter". It's a promotional tactic that has never really resonated with me, bands just following me on Twitter because I'm a fan of music. I've listened to a couple, but on the whole I just ignore them, don't follow back, and don't really listen. I could've missed a gem, who knows.
But I've just this afternoon started being followed by a band called The North, from Sheffield. A name so mind-numbingly all-encompassing, it tells you everything and yet nothing about the band at once. Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, The Beatles, The Stone Roses, they're all from The North, so they must sound like them, right? There was already a band called Northern Uproar (responsible for this gem of a website, thankfully still there.), so are they like them, but with less Uproar. A Northern Calm, if you will. I decided I'd explore them a little, and write about it. A quick open letter to The North follows....
Dear The North,
Thank you for being my guinea pigs. I appreciate it, even if you don't know about it. I am going to write about you with no further internet searching other than what I can find on your Twitter.
Yours,
Dave.
In The North's Twitter bio, I followed a link to their Reverb Nation page. I hadn't come across Reverb Nation before, but on first glance it appears to want to be all things to all men, a section to hear and buy the band's tracks, a section a bit like Twitter for comments, a section like ask.fm, and of course a bio, amongst other bits. It all ends up a bit of a mess. Two things stood out. Firstly, I was right about that name. The five "Sounds Likes" listed on the bio are Kasabian, Miles Kane, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Paul Weller. Secondly, all the options to purchase are in dollars. Are odd choice for such a seemingly downright English band. I'm going to be honest here. I like a lot of the music the bands on that soundlike make, but I have a downright hatred of bands who try to sound like them. With trepidation, I hit play on the first track available for streaming, No Man's Land.
I was pleasantly surprised. This sounded nothing like those bands. Nothing at all. This was an urgent, fast paced pop-rock tune that owed as much to Feeder as it did to Kasabian or Oasis. And, I can't believe I'm about to say this, the way the vocalist carried himself made me think more of Steven Wilson in Porcupine Tree's more straight ahead moments more than Liam Gallagher or Paul Weller. It was good. It was really good.
Shame about the next two tracks. E.V.A.N. was slow to start, and then never really got going. The vocal I admired on the first track was completely missing. The singer (who I'd love to namecheck, but I couldn't find his name on Reverb Nation) sounds like he's just not only failed to pull on a night out at the Leadmill, but his Kebab was really poor quality too. Yes, his night out was THAT bad, and then he had to sing straight after. The third track, Spiders, quite simply is an Arctic Monkeys circa Humbug rip off.
However, things picked up again. Shotgun Lover sounded more like No Man's Land, another punchy pop-rock track. It was ambitious, and really dragged me in, the bass sounding like Document-era R.E.M, and that Steven Wilson-alike vocal returning, before giving way in the last minute to a layered and dense guitar solo. Sadly, the last track on the home page Into The Fire went back to that Arctic Monkeys impression we heard on Spiders.
Basically, The North, like their website of choice, fall down by trying to be all things to all men, and end up a bit of a mess. If they tried to make their own direction instead of trying to ape their heroes, they would be in a lot better place musically. I get the feeling that the influences on Shotgun Lover and No Man's Land aren't exactly where the band inspire to be, and even though that may be where their songwriting takes them, they pull themselves away back towards those that do inspire them. They say you should never meet your heroes, you'll only be disappointed. If The North are anything to go by, you shouldn't try to be them either. You'll only be disappointing.
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