With meat and potatoes rock, it’s hard to know what’s going to hit the mark and what isn’t. At times, it may seem the only way to break through is to be from a big city and adopt some Gallagher swagger to show that you mean it. But even if you’re from a small town thinking that the London-centric A&R machine is avoiding you – think of how many bands there are in the cities clamouring for attention and doing pretty much the same thing as you are.
Officer Kicks sound like that band you saw down the pub the other night. On ‘The Chopper’ they sound like that band you saw down the pub the other night doing a Jet cover. The point is, from the outset, you know you aren’t being geared up for something mind-blowing, which makes the challenge of sticking their heads over the parapet even harder for them. For although indie-rock is well represented all over the country by all manner of unsigned bands hoping for their chance, there is still scope for doing something a little bit special.
The music industry is clearly tough to break into. There are a lot of bands out there all hoping and dreaming, just like most the boys at school hope that they’ll get to be a professional footballer. At times it feels like you can’t walk down the street and fart without disgruntling a nearby frontman or bassist. Lots dream of making it, and that’s because there is always some great white hope bothering the charts with quite generic pub rock music. Only a few bands at a time can expect to ‘make it,’ and a lot of that is down to luck. But it also helps to have one or two killer tunes on your debut.
‘Mona Lisa’ seems to have been born in tribute to Nirvana. It’s kind of catchy, but with the same lacklustre overtones that dampens even the catchier moments of the album. ‘Love After Death’ is a bit like Shiver by Coldplay, but without the benefit of big label production. Officer Kicks don’t do ballads well. They don’t convey feeling well in general, but when they slow things down there really is nothing left.
‘Bunny Boiler’ is an opportunity to really rock out, but it feels like there is a layer of wet tissue over the speakers that somehow takes away the heavy element and leaves barely tapping your feet. Lyrically, there are flashes of amusement, like “I’d like to take you back to share my single bed,” on ‘Tongue-tied,’ which stands out from within the general small town concerns about girls and life and the cigarettes and alcohol etc. Again, the lyrics are another average area.
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So what you have is a collection of perfectly average songs, performed well enough but without anything to hang on to. The riffs are forgettable on the whole and the fatal flaw of the band has to be the vocals. Singer ‘X’ can hold a tune, but throughout his voice sounds strained. ‘Dog Day Rush’ is very telling. In essence, it has single written all over it, were it not for the repetitive chorus (reminiscent of The Hiss) that fails to go away. It’s one of the better constructed songs
By ‘Nip & Tuck,’ you’re wanting Harry Hill to intervene with a quick “Well you get the idea with that one.” Ten tracks in and the limited range has been exhausted. Simple but effective bass-lines, muted drums and riffs that sound decidedly familiar.
Officer Kicks, then, are one of a huge stable of blueprint indie-rock bands. They’ve done nothing wrong beyond not having the budget to make the great British rock album. They’re just another anonymous face in an over-populated pool of bands all doing the same thing, and on their debut they’ve struggled to make an impression with this under-stated version of the things that your average band have doing for decades.
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