No talent from new kids of rock

(Morning Star, Friday 09 February 2007)

LIVE: NME Indie Rock Tour, Sheffield Octagon

A SHOW featuring the newest rock kids on the block was always going to be bedlam. The event of the indie calendar, the NME Indie Rock tour, rolled into town with a kerfuffle and plenty of hairy boys, as Mumm-ra, The Horrors, The Automatic and The View came up against each other in Sheffield.

Unfortunately, Mumm-ra are about as uninspiring as a young band have any right to be. The single What Would Steve Do is pleasant enough, but there's a craving for innovation in the crowd here that just can't be sated by these Bexhill-on-Sea upstarts.

Next up, The Horrors show themselves to be a pale imitation of the goth bands that they so fervently wish to emulate, but their raft of vicious, spat-through songs and bouffant hairdos by art school prancing ponies actually works.

When Faris Rotter sings, it's easy to imagine that he hates himself as much as he deserves, and that's sort of endearing.

Single Sheena is a Parasite makes the impact here and the stories of riots ensuing at their shows seem all too accurate when the thrashing well and truly kicks off.

Welsh one-hit wonders The Automatic are a victory of the catchy chorus. Despite their gimmick of having two vocalists - one shouting incomprehensibly, one trilling tunefully - aligning them all too closely to Linkin Park, they have anchored themselves in the public consciousness with the infuriatingly singable Monster, which has every audience member in paroxysms of joy here.

But the rest of their efforts are, unfortunately, lacklustre, filtered-down versions.

Headliners The View (pictured) are this year's surprise hit - surprise, because there's no earthly way that these buffoons should have a recording contract, much less be allowed to peddle their sub-Oasis drivel to the honest music fans of Britain.

The event of Scouse-accented Kyle Falconer's puberty still appears to be some way off, but he and his band of miscreants are somehow dodging schooldays with nauseating Britpop rubbish such as current hit Same Jeans.

As trends go, it's been a long time since the NME set them. But, with the "talent" on show here tonight, it's clear that they're doing their damnedest to run their own once good name into the ground.