Remember the Lo-Fidelity Allstars? Ace loud guitars, dub and mashed-up beats mob originally led by a geezer called Dave who never took his shades off and, for some bizarre reason, preferred to be known as Wrekked Train? Bet his Mum never wore that nom de plume, eh?
Still regardless of out-there nicknames and later reshuffles which resulted in the Wrekked Train going "sod this, I'm staying down the pub", the Lo-Fi's came up with some glorious stuff like "Battleflag" along the way and, despite (I assume ) general public indifference ended up in the 'where are they now?' file, it seems that some of said talented mob have no intention of remaining mentioned in dispatches.
No sirree. Enter TECHNICALLY MEN, a charged London-based sextet featuring several ex-Lo Fi's (and a guitarist called Del - kushty!) who are led by one Phil Ward - apparently John Cooper Clarke's long-lost cousin from Haslingden or some such place - and a chip the size of a hundredweight of King Edwards on their shoulder. They've obviously not turned their back on their patented dance-beats-melded-to-nasty-guitars-and-barracking-vocals schtick and are liable to make quite a splash with their second single "Bigman."
Not that I imagine many people will hear it thanks to Ward's seething invective. Even in (hurgh) 'radio edit' mode, "Bigman" is one abrasive mother, opening with Ward's paint-scraping Lancashire accent spluttering "there's a whole lot of superstars on this stage here tonight and we're still waiting to get paid!" before the band roll in behind in mesmeric manner. It morphs into a deadly accurate, industry-skewering tirade which gets even better when Ward hoiks off the shackles for the regular version and really gets stuck in. This unabrdiged version ends with him ranting "piss off back to London, Bigman, you're just a fuckin' joke!" You tell 'em son! Don't spare those six-album deals now, y'hear!
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So there you have it. Chaos is clearly Technically Men's chosen currency and they are dealing it frantically outside the temple with the help of the most fervent hecking this side of John Cooper Clarke's "Evidently Chickentown." Sounds like a winning formula to me.
But I'd still like to know what happened to ol' Wrekked Train. One hopes he didn't go all respectable in the end.
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