Boy Kill Boy / ¡Forward, Russia! / The Automatic / The Long Blondes

Sooo, the NME New Bands Tour then. Who’s been pencilled in for the next big thing? Let’s see. Stepping up mere moments after the venue’s doors are flung open, The Long Blondes offer a damn good reason not to run straight for the bar. Already a style icon for indie kids across the land, gorgeous lead singer Kate Jackson’s whipped her band into shape and tonight they show they’ve got substance to them too. The crowd watch in awe as they strut through their brief but thrilling set, ending with the wonderful double climax of ‘Giddy Stratospheres’ and ‘Separated By Motorways’. Next Big Thing potential? High, especially with those horny indie boys chasing after them.

Cardiff four-piece The Automatic offer tonight’s cheapest thrills, with their dumb, fists-aloft rock cutting straight to the chase, giving kids at the front a reason to mosh. Three quarters indie, one quarter emo, it’s like watching an Ordinary Boys gig get raided by a lost member of Panic! At The Disco. Their on-stage theatrics over-step the mark and what should be a full-throttle, triumphant show shrinks down to little more than embarrassing pastiche. Most of the songs sound the same, but it’s neigh on impossible not to raise a smile as they rip through anthem-by-numbers set closer, ‘Monster’. Mainstream success? No one will take them seriously, but the under 18’s will lap it up.

¡Forward, Russia! would need to try hard to get a bad review here, having already won this writer over on more than one occasion. Tonight’s show coincides with the release – finally! – of their debut album ‘Give Me A Wall’, and as they showcase the best of it, Leicester Uni’s crowd swell, spin and spurn mass frezy, as they dance cheer and cavort like they’d never heard such a ferocious mix of electro punk/funk thrash rock before. Phew. Is it worth giving you the numbers? Ok. ‘Thirteen’, ‘Fifteen Pt. 2’ and ‘Sixteen’ highlight their talents, but really there’s no other band trailing such innovation around the country right now so you’d be a fool to look into as being anything other than great. Are they going to be absolutely bloody massive? Sadly I doubt it... for all the furore and musical majesty, they’re unlikely to sniff their way anywhere remotely near a Radio 1 listener’s radar. Solid Alternative.

Headliners Boy Kill Boy popped up in the charts this week with indie pop gem ‘Suzie’. Hurrah! Headliners Boy Kill Boy really aren’t a very interesting band, posses no real innovation and fail to stand out in any way. Boooo! Out on the treadmill, and with that all-important chart hit, at least the crowds have something to sing along to. But after the three bands preceding each finding a way to lodge themselves in the crowd’s minds, Boy Kill Boy seem a damply diluted rock and roll experience. Most people still haven’t been to get a drink – now’s their moment. It would be an anti-climatic end to the evening, but most people have already had their fun, so one failure out of four doesn’t seem that much of an issue. Despite their mediocrity, they’re still likely to hit it big… they’re mundane enough to hit the mainstream and they’ve had the NME seal of approval to wrap it all up. But will anyone care about them in three years time? I imagine not.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.