Right now, the current indie scene is thriving on electro-pop, 80's derived catchy rock music. The Strokes seemed to pioneer this revival, paving the way for the current wave of bands such as The Killers, The Editors, and a whole other host of bands with names prefixed with "The".
So when I was asked to go look at this new, up-and-coming "The" band called THE RACE, I wasn't entirely surprised to be confronted with yet another band, whose sound was pretty much the same as everything else on the scene at the moment.
This five piece played to a small but appreciative audience at the Barfly, Camden, on their current tour to promote their double A side single "Amersham Road / Hope Song" (released on 3rd October, Shifty Disco records).
Visually, this band stood out by virtue of their relatively unique set up: five burly, bouncing blokes and a dancing woman on rhythm guitar - all laughing, smiling, and apparently having their own personal disco on stage, which was great fun to watch.
Throughout their performance they were relentlessly energetic, and the sum of the parts made a nice radio-friendly sound. The singer Dan Buchanan, was charismatic, and spent the whole of the set smiling his head off at his fellow band members and audience alike. You got the impression that this band have been mates for years, something later confirmed by the singer.
Initially, I liked their sound, and it was encouraging to see a group of people leaping about on stage joyously, and genuinely enjoying themselves - rather than being static, wearing black, and looking like they've just come from a funeral.
The musical capabilities of this band are obviously good, although sadly a lot of the fine detail got lost in the mix. Given the amount of superfluous equipment that was on stage (synthesizers, xylophones, and the like) I was hopeful that The Race would produce a unique and interesting set, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. All the songs were guitar-heavy, with heavy drums, and melodic basslines, with very little change in tone or dynamics. This is fine for a couple of tunes - but too much is, well, too much.
The third song into the set, I was still into their music, but I was kind of hoping that they would do something a little different. After the fifth song there was still no joy, and it became apparent that their range was narrow, and it crossed my mind that this band were a bit of a One-Trick-Pony.
Towards the end of the set I was getting the auditory equivalent of what eating too much chocolate cake would be like. I was mentally urging them to change tempo, hell even a key change would've been nice! All the songs merged into one, and I stopped being able to differentiate one from another. I also expected the female guitarist/vocalist (Jess del Rio) to feature more, but sadly she stayed at the side, smiling and dancing a bit, and smashing her guitar like there was no tomorrow. This was a shame because what vocals she did come out with sounded nice, and it would have added a bit more colour to the overall picture.
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As it was, the set started out very well, but rapidly became boring. And although, in general, the songs were nice, the "sound" became "noise": overcrowded, cluttered, and confusing to listen to.
This was disappointing because given how exuberant and likeable they were as performers, it was frustrating that the music, for me, didn't quite match up. However, this bad are relatively new, having formed in July 2004, and they have the time and potential to develop into something more varied and original.
So, where are this band heading? For a relatively new band, they have an impressive resume, including performing alongside Jamiroquai and the Fun Lovin' Criminals at Fire2005, Girona, Spain, and they have had plenty of good reviews in the music press. They have the right musical references to sound in vogue with the current trends, but I am unsure that they are special enough to be considered any different from anything else on the scene. However, given the apparent momentum this band seem to be gathering, I wouldn't be surprised to have at least a couple of relatively successful singles.
In the songs there were sounds similar to the Doves, Bloc Party, and The Editors. There was even an element of My Bloody Valentine in there somewhere, but I suspect that was more to do with the distorted sound system than anything intentional on their part. But mostly, they reminded me of the strongly Elbow-derived band, Longview. And to be be this derivative of relatively new acts indicates that the musical base of this band does not stretch too far into the dim and distant past (i.e. not much further than Radiohead).
This band were ok, I enjoyed the first few songs in the set very much. However, on seeing their performance I wouldn't buy their album. I would probably buy the single and play it on "repeat" for about 57 minutes. It would probably sound strikingly similar to the album, and you'd save a load of money to boot.
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