Yeah, yeah, so it's oft said that you should never judge a book by its cover, and the same goes for a record or CD. But c'mon, whoever came up with the design for the sleeve for 'Day In Day Out' should get another job. That said, the shamefully unimaginative collage of odds and sods does fairly reflect the shamefully unimaginative pick 'n' mix indie rock contained within. The booklet's interior shots depict dart boards, cards, and the band members playing cards and drinking pints of beer in, and outside, a dingy-looking pub. I suppose they're supposed to show us that they're regular guys, jeans 'n' t-shirt wearing everymen without rock star pretensions. They're real, ordinary blokes that regular, ordinary people can identify with. The actuality is, they're ordinary blokes alright, making ordinary music, and just as you'd not recognise any of the band members in the street, you'd probably be pushed to identify any of their songs if they were played on the radio.
'Change the World' contains the lines 'I do believe you can change the world / If you really want to,' but the derivative pub-rock backing and nondescript vocal delivery completely undermines the sentiment. The incongruous guitar heroics in the middle of 'Talk to Me' demonstrate a degree of musical competence, but doesn't change the fact it's a sub-Oasis rip-off, without the swaggering delivery. From one song to the next, the album plods and trudges between mediocre pillar and lumpen post, it's like Ocean Colour Scene and Shed 7 never happened. Either that or these guys are of the opinion that these bands and the countless forgettable bands that I, er, forget, are worth not only remembering, but apeing.
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In fairness, 'Day In Day Out' isn't absolute, diabolical crap: it's just bollock-numbingly dull. It doesn't warrant a complete dismantling. Besides, I really can't be bothered to squander my energy slating it given that the band can't be bothered to come up with any original-sounding songs.
Moody Tuesday Online
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