Ok, this band have been knocked by a lot of web sites for what they do – and before listening to this CD I probably would have agreed with them. Having seen the band support King Prawn at the Mean Fiddler last year I had not been too impressed as the music really did seem uninspirational and uninteresting to me, barely managing to put a smile on my face. However, now that I have listened to this CD I can honestly say that I think the band were just having a bad day on that particular occasion – as some of the tracks on this CD are actually quite good.
This CD gets off to quite a promising start with track ‘Fingers On the Ledge’ having an amazingly catchy chorus, some good sturdy bass lines, great guitar hooks, and some killer drum beats. I am not ashamed of saying that I actually quite enjoyed listening to this track – it was fast, fun, and showed that the band are really quite good at what they do and know how to pen a decent tune when they have to. However, after this track I just feel that the excitement is never quite captured again and the rest of the songs on the EP all seem to be lacking the oomph that first track ‘Fingers On the Ledge’ seemed to have. Don’t get me wrong, they are not bad tracks from the first track on and they definitely didn’t make me stop listening which is always a bonus – I just don’t feel that they mirror the quality of the first track. There are still some good guitar riffs in places and some pretty fiery bass lines but the vocals just don’t seem to do it. They are definitely lacking in power and just never capture their former glory again.
Not Katies seem to be quite good at their genre, and although they are not the sort of band that I would generally go out of my way to listen to, on the basis of the first track on this CD I would definitely contemplate seeing them live. If the band can come up with more tracks like the first one here then I think that they would definitely be on to a winner as it is catchy, happy go lucky stuff that I am sure people would really enjoy. Deck Cheese is the home of a fair few good bands whom I have reviewed in the past and if Not Katies keep at it then they should be joining the long list of great bands on the label.
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.