ALBUM: The Zutons - You Can Do Anything (Deltasonic)

Although ‘Valerie’ might have suggested The Zutons were nice Northern optimists, first single from ‘Tired of Hanging Around,’ ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’ showcased a snarling side beneath the jaunty pop hooks. Still, ‘You Can Do Anything’ in general takes a heavier sounding approach, on some tracks making the last album seem like Tara Reid (drunk, swearing and with the occasional stint in jail) compared to its Mike Tyson (dangerously insane with a punch that can powder bone). Tracks like ‘Family of Leeches’ and ‘Freak,’ stories about benefit fraud and rent boys, are the best examples of The Zutons’ lyrically and musically grittier edge but at the same time the album’s denser arrangements are often so aggravatingly studio polished that it steals some of the effect. Strangely enough, they seem most in their element on their slower tracks where they’re not trying to seem pissed off, like closer ‘Little Red Door,’ which is bordering on precious.

Still, the retro-rock that rightly earned The Zutons so many fans is still omnipresent, this time round with a strong 70s feel like on single ‘Always Right Behind You’ which almost sounds like that Christmas song by Slade and the Fleetwood Mac like ‘What’s Your Problem?’ Again, the simple chord progressions on a lot of tracks give some unintentional bounce that makes it hard to take the nasty picture of Britain they’re trying to paint seriously or the angry lyrics like ‘You’re a virus, you only ever make mistakes’ make the album seriously not fun. On the plus side, despite losing their guitarist ‘You Can Do Anything’ has some awesome guitar work, especially the wild solos on ‘Harder and Harder’ and ‘Give Me A Reason,’ making me suspect their previous guitarist was the limiting factor.

Though it pains me to retread another criticism of The Zutons, Abi Harding seems to be doing even less on this album besides the usual three-note sax riff, backing vocals and her primary function, selling their gig tickets and getting photo shoots. But fuck credibility, as they say themselves ‘she has nice hair and legs.’

Overall it’s a decent album but it lacks the charming quirkiness that made their first album so instantly memorable instead opting for both angry flailing songs and slow tempo ballads. No amount of axe-bashing can hide the production veneer that characterises the ‘trying-to-crack-the-States’ album and it’s hard not to miss what The Zutons used to be.

Ollie Khakwani

Q&A: Cassie and the Cassettes

In between exams and enjoying the summer sun, Cassie Layton, front woman of hotly-tipped Londoners Cassie and the Cassettes, took some time out to talk about funk covers bands, The Smiths and festival plans…

Your name kind of follows a structure that’s quite popular at the moment (Florence and the Machine, Rosie Oddie and the Odd Squad etc). It’s also pretty light-hearted and fun. How long did it take you to come up with it? Did you go by any other names? I always think it must be quite hard to come up with the perfect band name.

Actually, a friend of mine initially suggested it as a joke. At the time the band wasn't formed yet, but it stuck in my mind as a possible title. I don't think he remembers suggesting it though, probably a good thing, might try and claim royalties later or something... And I agree, finding a decent band name is tricky, all the best ones are taken!

You’re working with No Pain in Pop at the moment. How did that come about? Are you fans of the other bands they’ve worked with like HEALTH and Telepathe?

If I'm honest, I haven't actually heard of those bands. The only one I've heard is We Smoke Fags who aren't really my type of music, but the guitarist saw them live and said they put on a really good performance. I think I'll go and see them sometime.

You’re quite a young band. Have you had any problems with people patronising you because of your age or age restrictions not allowing you to play gigs?

We're not that young, are we...? Well all of us are 18 or 19 now so age restrictions aren't really a problem. They never have been as far as I remember. I think for our first two gigs a couple of us were underage, but it never prevented us from playing and no one's ever been patronising, not to our face anyway.

All age concerts are pretty much all the rage right now. I’m assuming as a young band you’re quite receptive to these? Have you played many yourselves? Have you noticed a difference between all ages crowds and over 18s audiences?

Well we haven't played any all ages concerts as yet, hopefully we will in the summer. But at the last gig we played at the Great Escape, the audience was a lot older. I think the only difference was less movement, there wasn't as much dancing going on, it's much nicer playing to a rowdy crowd; it’s more relaxing.

Who first inspired you to start a band? Do you look more at older or newer bands for inspiration?

Well half of us originally met through a funk covers band called The Funkbomb Detonators and we've all had experience with other bands before, but it's really difficult finding people who you can get along and also connect with on a musical level, the two are surprisingly hard to find.

I think it was during my Nirvana phase that I made up my mind to form a band, but I gave that idea up after a series of musical flops. It was only when I became good friends with the other band members some four years later that it seemed even remotely possible. And we definitely look at older bands for inspiration. Not that we’re against modern music, just as nature has it none of our favourite bands date later than about 1994.

What do you think about the current musical climate? A lot of people seem to enjoy slagging it off at the moment. And what do you think about the state of the industry right now?

Well I won’t go as far as slagging it off, but I have to say it’s been in much better positions than it is now. I don’t know too much about the industry, but I think the drop of record sales has made them very sensitive and acutely aware of any new bands that could potentially up the sales. This means we’ve has a lot of one hit wonders recently and artists that sell perhaps 1 top record and then peter out into nothing.

There are some really talented bands around at the moment, but there’s also a lot of rubbish. I guess you could say that about any era though, it’s only the revolutionary bands that stand the test of time whilst the rubbish ones are sifted out, never to be seen or heard of again. This is quite philosophical!

Belle & Sebastian comparisons seem to get thrown about left, right and centre when your name is mentioned. Do you think these comparisons are fair? Do you mind being constantly tagged with that?

I don’t mind at all, I think they’re a great band, although it’s only recently that I got into them. I can some similarities though I don’t think we’re worthy of the constant comparisons! I’m not complaining though, they’re extremely talented.

You say you’re ready to “fight injustice and bands full of pale Smiths obsessives”. I take it you’re not too enamoured with Morrissey and co. then?

Hell no! I love The Smiths; ‘Ask Me’ has to be one of my favourite songs of all time! The rest of the band likes them too! We should really change that on our MySpace, it’s sending out completely the wrong message. So many people have very angrily asked me “why don’t you like the Smiths!?” I didn’t realise it would cause this much of an uproar! I have to admit, we didn’t actually write that biography on our MySpace, it was a friend of ours, and whilst he did it extremely well, the content isn’t entirely accurate. Well, that part isn’t anyway, that and the Justin Timberlake comment; 'SexyBack' is a great song!

When you’re writing songs, is it a group effort or more just based around one individual’s ideas?

Well so far I’ve written the songs either on guitar or piano and then I’ve presented them to the band to work their magic upon. We do all the arrangements together so it’s very much a group effort. Although I’ve recently started working on writing some things with the guitarist Tom Varrall which is going really well, we’ve got some cool songs on the cards.

Is there a goal or objective behind Cassie and the Cassettes or are you purely together just to play music?

I think we’re just going to see what happens, it would be amazing if something big came of the band, it’s a fantasy that frequently crosses our minds, but if it doesn’t, we’d definitely stay together to play music.

You played Great Escape festival the other weekend. How did that go? Did you get to experience the rest of the festival after you’d played?

Oh, I kind of answered that a little while before, but it went well! A little strange as it was the first time we played a gig with none of our friends in the audiences, but it was good. And sadly we played on the final night so the festival was drawing to a close, but I’d like to go back there next year and enjoy it as a voyeur instead.

What are your plans for the summer? Are you playing any other festivals or going to any as punters?

We haven’t got any firm plans to play any festivals yet, but half of us are going to Benicassim which should be very exciting! Our drummer Nick is travelling across Europe and I think he’s going to Dour, but other than that we’re festival free.

Looking past summer, have you got anything sorted in terms of an album yet or are you going to concentrate more on touring and getting your name out there?

I think we’re going to play some more shows and we’ve planned to release a single this summer, but as I said before I think we’ll just see what happens, fingers crossed this wont be the last you hear of us.

www.myspace.com/cassieandthecassettes

Rhian Daly

SINGLE: Luke Leighfield - If You Haven’t Got Anything to Say / Coming of Age (Got Got Need)

Fed up of 80s revivals, drug-addled celebrities and fads that pass quicker than you can say “New rave is a massive joke, yeah?”? Then Luke Leighfield is here to voice your frustrations in buoyant, sing-along piano pop form. ‘If You Haven’t Got Anything to Say’ is one of the highlights of Leighfield’s second record, ‘Fan the Flames’, and is his debut single proper. Never has cynicism sounded so much fun, as the future-pop-star-in-the-making tinkles the ivories jovially, whilst running through a list of music-related things that wind him up. Not that he’s mouthing off for the sake of it – there’s the distinct feeling that this song was written because Leighfield really cares, not to gain more publicity like certain members of the current indie fraternity like to do. If anything, it seems that ‘If You Haven’t Got Anything to Say’ was born out of frustration that musicians who are peddling the same unoriginal sounds swamp the charts and press, whilst DIY heroes like Luke are left in obscurity with the recognition they deserve being handed over to some one hit wonder. But with songs as strong as this (and there’s plenty of them over his two LPs), it shouldn’t be long until Leighfield himself is drowning in critical acclaim.

Flip over your record to find previously unreleased demo ‘Coming of Age’, a tale of teenage lust and adolescent mistakes – a topic that’s been sung about many times before, sure, but Luke Leighfield brings a fresh take to it with his youthful wisdom crafting lyrics like “The joy of getting older is making these mistakes” and “We’re still learning/We’re coming of age”. A beautiful song and perhaps an antidote to mend a broken heart, albeit one that will involve plenty of tears.

Rhian Daly

EP: The Sexual Hot Bitches Vs The Lovely Eggs - Split 7” (Filthy Little Angels)

The Sexual Hot Bitches are two ladies from London, who create riot grrrl-tinged pop music about killing cats and shagging. The first of three tracks on offer here, ‘Kitty’, is a droll tale of wanting to kill their cat so they can get a dog. What is best about this is how the Bitches manage to make attempted cat murder sound so sweet and innocent, when some of the lyrics are a little bit dark.

Taking a different angle, ‘Let’s Fuck’ is a lust-ridden Elastica meets Yeah Yeah Yeahs alternative dancefloor riot. Short and sweet, it’s energetic and exciting; a sort of musical prozac, if you will, as it’s pretty much impossible not to smile whilst this is playing.

The final contribution from the Bitches on this split single is ‘Hot Pie’; a shouty, scuzzy minute and a half of fun and one of the standout tracks on this whole record.

The Lovely Eggs are another duo, this time one girl, one guy and from Lancaster, not LDN. They’re also a little stranger than TSHB, but in an entirely good way. I’m always intrigued by songs that are twenty seconds long, so on seeing the track length of ‘Mix Dan’ appearing on my computer screen, I had to listen to it straight away. What I got was a list of the different species of owl. Which, you have to admit, is pretty spectacular. In fact, the first three tracks from the Lovely Eggs hint that they’re slightly obsessed with birds, with ‘I Like Birds (But I Like Other Animals Too)’ and ‘Jon Carling’ both repeatedly mentioning the feathery creatures. Other subject matters covered by the Lovely Eggs include getting shoes dirty at farms (the 15 second ‘Dirty At Farms’, which sounds like the foundations of an Art Brut demo), parties and mass suicide (‘I’m Having a Party’) and ‘Cops and Robbers’; a nursery rhyme-esque 10 seconds. And then, to top it all off, the record finishes with 15 seconds of what sounds like birds singing. But a little speeded up. Obviously.

Standout Tracks: The Sexual Hot Bitches – Kitty / The Lovely Eggs – I Like Birds (But I Like Other Animals Too)

Rhian Daly

SINGLE: Gloria Cycles - Vegas (Wendy Bike Records)

Think of Vegas and you think of glamour, excitement and lavish excess, right? So putting on Gloria Cycles’ debut single, you’re probably going to be expecting something that reflects that. Unfortunately you couldn’t be further from the truth as ‘Vegas’ is a mundane journey from start to finish. The opening chiming guitar work is weary and overdone, whilst the constant repetitive backing vocals from bassist Jen Dalby don’t take long to get on your nerves. One positive of this track is lead singer Kenny McCracken, possessing an interesting and distinctive voice that saves this single from being an absolute disaster.

Having said that, the Muddy Baker remix reconstructs the track and turns it into a six and a half minute electro wonder, taking the best parts of the song and cutting the crap. Perhaps Gloria Cycles should take note from this electro refit and use the same strategy to improve their own work.

Rhian Daly

EP: Anthony Love - Action / Passion EP

Essex isn’t really renowned for producing that many great bands or artists, with its most famous sons probably being Blur. Of late, The Horrors, These New Puritans and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly have all crept out of the county’s woodwork, and maybe one day, in the near future, Anthony Love’s name will be mentioned in the same breath as those. The obvious comparison here is clearly with Sam “Get Cape” Duckworth, what with the two both being singer/songwriters from Essex and all, but where Duckworth writes mainly about politics and world issues, Love sings more about “broken hearts and broken glass” – romantic affairs of the heart that you’d expect a 18 year old to write about.

‘Action/Passion’ is Love’s second self-released EP, containing 5 sublime acoustic efforts. ‘Daily News’ is a strong start to any record, bursting with a youthful desire to be different to the elders surrounding us. ‘This Town’ is full of longing and is guaranteed to make you think of lovers loved and lost, with tender lyrics like “You the know the thing about honesty/It’s a policy I’m not following/If I tell you how I feel/It’s only ever going to end this thing” surely resonating and striking a chord with many teenagers the world over. ‘Maxim’ is a gentle 3 minutes something of beautiful melancholy whilst ‘LAYA’ is a more upbeat, although still very sincere, affair. Closing track ‘Heartbeats’ shows a poetic depth to Love as a songwriter, something which only grow stronger over time.

‘Action/Passion’ is an insightful collection of songs that with proper, professional production could be transformed into sweeping sonnets that will surely bring Anthony Love the attention he so deserves.

Standout track: This Town

Rhian Daly

Q&A: We Smoke Fags

North London's WE SMOKE FAGS release debut single 'Eastenders' this week on sixsevenine.

Which additional instrument would you like to see in the band?

Live drums one day would be cool. But if I had to pick something else entirely, it'd be a whisk with variable speeds and a glass mixing bowl.

If you were invited to a gods and goddesses party which mythical figure would you go as and how would you depict it in costume?

Ra, god of the sun, because he's got a birds head. I'd model the head on a falcon's and make it out of paper mache. Then I'd wear some gold robes and carry a big stick. I reckon It'd look pretty damn good!

If We Smoke Fags was a dance, what dance would you be?

Better than the Rolex sweep.

And on the same subject, what is your best token dance move?

Flailing limbs and also trying bogle.

If you could promote only one band in the world, except yourself, who would it be?

One band? Probably XX teens, we like them.

What were you doing at this time yesterday?

Walking on a beach in Dublin, looking for crabs with Harry.

Look to the past or look to the future?

Both, but never the present.

What is your most effective insult?

"I saw your Mum on Jeremy Kyle, wearing Reebok classics". It's Harry's really, but it's spawned the "I saw you Mum...." game on tour.

You’ve got a whole variety of shows planned over the summer, what one are you most looking forward to? And has there been a gig you’d rather forget?

Japan's Summer Sonic festival. We've never been to Japan, it's going to be like stepping into another world! We've heard from other bands that playing there is pretty surreal.

Yes, but I've forgotten.

You have an interesting mix of influences listed on your myspace. How do you work individual interests into the band?

I think it just comes naturally to Joey in the writing process. We're always introducing each other to music and experiences we've each discovered and that filters through to our songs.

Is it better to be influenced or inspired?

Inspired, without a doubt. But influence plays an important role.

Your debut single ‘Eastenders’ is out soon, has it been hard work to get to the point where you’re releasing a record?

I wouldn't call it hard, but very long! It's been frustrating, we were first meant to release a single about the same time last year, but things kept on changing, albeit for the best. We're all fucking exciting about this one, we feel everything is ready now.

So, what pray tell does the future hold?

The usual band stuff, recording the album, more touring, trying to take over the world...

Claire Evans