Having already presented us with fabulous unsung heroes like Billy Childish (Thee Headcoats, the ace Buff Medways), The Prisoners and The Milkshakes, North Kent's Medway Delta has a reputation for nurturing the very best in UK garage rock
And this rep can only be reinforced by the arrival of THE LEN PRICE 3's magnificent debut album "Chinese Burn". It's a rip-roaring 30 minutes of snotty attitude, irresistible hooks and daffy wisdom and after one listen you're hooked, such is its' immediacy.
Just to throw us off the trail, I should explain now that none of the band actually answers to the name Len Price. The name has been deliberately chosen with allegiance to the band's resolutely anti-star stance and cocks a snook to Wreckless Eric's short-lived Len Bright Combo: one of the 1980s most under-rated outfits who (like most of Eric's projects) could have been contenders had circumstances been different. But that's another story.
In reality, the LP3 are Glenn Page (guitar, vox), Steve Huggins (bass) and drummer/ harmony vocalist Neil Fromow. They've been gigging around London and the Medway for the past couple of years, have chalked up supports with The Libertines and are regulars at the fabled Tap'n'Tin in Chatham (scene of Peter Doherty's notorious 'Freedom gig', lest we forget). They recorded their album with Buff Medways producer Jim Riley in glorious monophonic at Rochester's Ranscombe Studios: a Medway alternative to Liam Watson's Toe Rag if ever there was.
But despite these retro leanings, "Chinese Burn" more than engages in the 21st Century. None of the songs take more than a few seconds to sink their hooks into you, and Page proves himself adept on the creative pilfering front in a way Noel Gallagher would surely be proud of. If you want proof, check out mega first single "Christian In The Desert" - which sails extremely close to the Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night" - but is self-contained genius in itself, or the intro to "Heavy Atmosphere", which once again reheats the legendary "Louie Louie" riff and cheekily creates something equally wonderful.
Elsewhere, the band's penchant for unlikely subject matter hardly harms them either. The crunching "Lai-Ha Lam" takes in pre-pubescent schoolboy crushes with Asian girls; the demonic, rubber-burning rock'n'roll of "Chatham Town Spawns Devils" paints a seriously less than glamorous portrait of the band's hometown; the ridiculously catchy "Amsterdam" is tinged with pathos and sadness and - perhaps best of all - "The Last Hotel" halts the ramalama for a a couple of minutes as the band pull out all the stops for a spangly, neo-Byrds-y affair that tackles a particularly sticky subject: old peoples' homes. When Glenn sings lines like "Swap your life savings for a one-way ticket straight to hell", the ghastliness is truly encapsulated, and the song - unlikely as it may sound - is an utterly moving affair altogether.
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There are a couple of throwaway moments. "Viva Viva", for instance, is a bit of a one-trick pony, though one that will have you up and bopping regardless, while - to a lifelong Joy Division fan - hearing a song called "She's Lost Control" is perhaps a bridge too far, although the tune's domestic disharmony message is certainly one worth discussing.
But these are minor blemishes, and are soon forgotten when the LP3 steam into full-pelt, Rickenbacker-stuffed classics such as the biz-dissing "Chinese Burn" and the bug-eyed raunch of "Medway Eye" or close the album's frantic first half with a raw, harmonica-assisted cruise through Link Wray's "Comanche!". This latter draws parallels with the way The Jam used to do Neal Hefti's "Batman Theme", and indeed the LP3's debut album has a similar lippy upstart appeal as Weller and co's raw'n'enthusiastic first offering had back in the day.
So "Chinese Burn" ain't rocket science, and it's no great reinvention of the rock wheel, but it's some of the most gloriously unfettered garage-rock excitement this jaded hack has clapped lobes on for yonks. The Len Price 3 are surely the new Kings of the Medway Delta in waiting.
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