Amateur doesn’t mean slipshod and it doesn’t mean uncreative. The word's got more to do with loving what you do, and maybe dreaming one day it could support you financially.
So bands like MAN PLAYING KAZOO, noble amateurs, go through the whole process of writing, recording and packaging their music, organising gigs and a website, and working on establishing an audience. It's as if they were a whole music industry all by themselves. It's the norm now I guess, and much indier than indie ever was. It sure is loads of fun. And maybe it’s how it should be. At any one time there could be (this is a conservative estimate based on halving known activity in the city of Leeds where I work) 200 such bands per million of the population – so anything up to 12,000 good to excellent amateur bands are rubbing virtual shoulders with the likes of MAN PLAYING KAZOO. And double that ratio for Eire, I'd guess.
I often want to write this when I'm reviewing non-industry bands. I think it makes a difference.
MAN PLAYING KAZOO are a student band from Nottingham. Singer/guitarist James Housley and bassist Howard McDonald, have added drummer Robin Weston and guitarist Chris Walls. The end result sounds democratic and enthusiastic, with each band member getting to put their favourite kind of music into the stew pot. It’s a bit of a rock cocktail.
The first sound of "Friendly Guy" is lo-fi Americana drifting into mushgrunge with too much distortion and a voice riding the edge of in-tune in a nagging way that gets more grating as the CD goes on. The tune is simple and effective and the range of sounds is inventive and pretty convincing. By the end it's clear that four minutes can only take so many changes of direction, and the attempted monster crescendo comes a bit eager and uninvited.
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"Packed" is early 80s metal with more edgy singing. Surging bass and hyperactive drumming are pretty fine alongside the chord-riffing guitars. There's a soppy slow bit in the middle that really does expose the singing. And then back to a different guitar attack – a bit like someone switching the lights off and on for dramatic effect. But it works.
"Black and White" reverts to the lo-fi guitar intro, then piles the rock drumming in before we can settle down and notice we're clad in leather trousers and shaking our Pantene Pro V tresses. A shrieky guitar solo makes out like a Steve Vai tutorial, but decides not to push its luck.
On auto repeat, I'm always pleased when those first chugging chords of "Friendly Guy" come back round. I'll never get used to the discomfort of the sharpness of the voice. But the video (yup, it’s a multi media CD) shows that James Housely has got good stage presence and gets his audience whipped up. They love it. We love it. The band loves it.
www.manplayingkazoo.com
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