Features

The Maccabees - Latchmere's got a wave machine

Clark Summers 06/02/2007

Last night F.B. shook off the general feeling of apathy, exhaustion and boredom generated by the working week for a night on the tiles. I'd like to say that we exchanged tips on how to cure the infirm with Chris De Burgh, argued the toss over the latest buzz bands of the day with other top bloggers and necked back shots of J.D. with the bold and the beautiful, the sad reality though is that this was simply not the case. F.B. did in fact stand around looking aghast at myspace hipsters while supping like an old man on a pint of Tetleys. Us? Scene? Get out of it! Oh and we watched some bands because that's what you do if you go to a gig, you don't stand around taking photos of your mates while the band are playing and you generally work out what the headliners are going to sound like before splashing out £8 on the door. Local lads The Screening were first up and played a blustery set of Kasabian indebted rockers before making way for the none more mediocre Mr Jack Penate (apparently newly signed to XL). The best thing I can say about Mr Jack Penate - at least you're not Good Shoes... or The Horrors.

Thankfully the headliners swept all before them in an all too brief set (by my estimation about 35 minutes long and no encore either!). The Maccabees have been picking up some impressive critical acclaim since being snapped up by Polydor off-shoot 'Fiction' culminating in a cover slot on this week's Artrocker. First single proper 'Latchmere' was a spiky, energetic and somewhat odd ode to a swimming pool (I kid you not dear reader). In many respects they remind me of a wide-eyed and somewhat puppy-ish version of The Rakes. New single 'First Love' (out on November 13th) is a tantalising glimpse of a band poised on the verge of a major breakthrough, let's hope they've got some more ace songs to fatten up the set next time they head out on tour.

This article orginally appeared here:
http://mellowdoubt.blogspot.com/2006/10/latchmeres-got-wave-machine.html