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Hallelujah! It is the re-birth of British guitar music.
You stand, beer in hand, face upturned to a musical
revelation unravelling before your eyes. It’s fresh,
edgy, mind-blowing and it sounds nothing like Oasis
or the Rolling Stones. You are not at a Proud Mary gig.
Depressingly, these Oasis-certified hopefuls appear
to be on a mission to bring a tired and tested combination
of the Rolling Stones and Oasis to the masses. Again.
Billed as “Indie R&B” (Hmm, interesting – thought Indie
was dead?) Proud Mary take to the stage at the Northampton
Soundhaus and promptly confirm all our worst fears about
Noel Gallagher’s taste in music. In short, they’re everything
you’d expect from an English guitar band: Fresh-from-the-tour-bus
dishevelled, cheery so it’s fun to watch them (as opposed
to faces twisted into expressions of teen angst we’ve
become so accustomed to in these nu-metal dominated
times), but with just enough attitude to make them ‘serious’.
Impressively rounded-out tunes follow, one after the
other in evermore Stonesy style, with a bit of Neil
Young country-rawk thrown in for good measure.
They sound good. They look OK. The lead singer has a
good voice. I dance a bit. Just a very little bit…
Little wonder Noel Gallagher rushed to sign them to
his label and produce their album, plus add them to
the bill for Oasis’ forthcoming Finsbury Park gigs.
That should expose them to an entire audience of prospective
adoring fans dying for an Oasis replacement since the
Gallaghers joined Jagger as the daddys of rock.
These guys are already playing to stadia-full in their
heads – there’re enough big, bold choruses and pub-rock
slowies to put them on a million jukeboxes and schoolboy’s
walls in the very near future. After Northampton, Finsbury
will be a breeze.
But it’s unlikely that they could overcome a penchant
for worryingly Oasis-like riffs to become new heroes
of rock’n’roll like Liam et al did back in those heady
days of ’94 (Yes, I was young and naïve and totally
taken in by the Gallagher – ahem! – charm…)
So there you have it. It’s hard to write an exciting
review faced with so much retro-referential nothingness.
Don’t take it to heart, boys – but we’ve seen it all
before.
more info:
Proud
Mary Website
Natasha House for Crud Magazine© 2002
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| 04/02 1 Giant Leap - My Culture
04/02 Elfpower Interview - Andrew Rieger - Creatures
04/02 Frou Frou Interview - Guy Sigsworth/Imogen Heap
04/02 Gomez Interview - Ian Ball
04/02 Idlewild - Live - London Astoria
04/02 K's Choice Interview
04/02 Leaves - Live - Camden Dingwall
04/02 Longwave Interview - Exit
04/02 Lucy Mongrel Interview
04/02 Oasis - The Hindu Times
04/02 Phantom Planet - Interview
04/02 Unwritten Law - Interview
04/02 VUE - Coordinates Interview
05/02 BRMC - LIve - Kentish Town, London
05/02 Breeders - Title K
05/02 FC Kahuna - Machine Says Yes
05/02 Moco - Live - London Monarch
05/02 Need New Body - Interview
05/02 The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Live - Soundhause, Northampton
05/02 The Bellrays - Meet The Bellrays
06/02 Fleadh Festival - Finsbury Park
06/02 Frou Frou Coordinates Interview
06/02 Incubus - Interview - Mark Einziger
06/02 North Mississippi Allstars - Interview
06/02 Papa Roach - She Loves Me Not
06/02 Proud Mary - Live - Northampton, Soundhaus
06/02 Pulp - Live - Sherwood Pines, Edwinstowe
06/02 Reindeer section - You Are My Joy
06/02 Silverchair - Diorama
|  | 06/02 Something Corporate - Leaving Through The Window
06/02 Soinc Youth - Interview
06/02 The Burn - The Smiling Face
06/02 The Coral - Live - Roadmender, Northampton
06/02 The LIbertines - Live - The Social, Nottingham
06/02 The Vines, Sheffield Leadmill
06/02 Trik Turner - Interview
06/02 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Live, Soundhaus, Northampton
07/02 12 Stones Interview
07/02 Arolo -Interview
07/02 Buy To Let Doncaster - Anti Social Behaviour
07/02 Cassius - Interview
07/02 Farrah - Interview
07/02 Glassjaw - Interview
07/02 Neil Michael Haggerty - Interview
07/02 Hoobastank - Running Away
07/02 Leaves - Interview
07/02 LL Cool Jay Interview
07/02 Oasis - Live - Finsbury Park, London
07/02 Polyphonic Spree - Live - Camden Monarch
07/02 Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
07/02 Super Furry Animals - Interview
07/02 The Beatings - Live - Metro Club London
07/02 The Bellrays + The D4 - Virgin Megastore, Oxford Street London
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002 | |
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