Indie-rag darlings The Metros have experienced a pretty meteoric rise through the ranks in the last year or so, though latest single “Last Of The Lookers” offers little musical explanation for why that might be.
Because, as singles go, “Last Of The Lookers” is pretty bland. I’m not entirely sure whether it was their intention, but by including an instrumental cut of the track on my review copy, 1965 Records have made it very easy to see exactly how much like a yoof-TV series theme-music piece it is. Imagine some sort of modern remake of Byker Grove set in the rougher parts of present day London, replacing bad chart rave with derivative jangling indie pop … or perhaps some horrendous hybrid of Hollyoaks and Press Gang with all the feeble pop-culture smugness of the former and none of the intelligence of the latter.
I mean, it’s not bad. The Metros can play pretty well, and there’s a certain stripped-down arse-shaking funkiness to it, all simple pentatonic guitar riffs and solos with some natural amplifier crunch dialled in, but it’s staggeringly unoriginal, and nothing that your local middle-aged blues combo don’t knock out every Wednesday night down the old Bull And Bush (cheap house doubles, open mic).
Of course, your local blues combo probably don’t sing sassy sneering lyrics about inebriated nights out in London on the 3-for-1 alcopop deals – but it appears that if they did, they might start raking in those younger audiences. I imagine I’m not the only person who sees a certain irony in The Metros being a popular staple of the teen-friendly live circuit and singing songs that portray the fun side of underage drinking, and yet still being lauded by nanny-statist “lock up the hoodies” tabloids like The Sun for their “cheeky Peckham charm” or something similar – which, to be fair, says more about the hypocrisy of the tabloids than the music of The Metros.
But that’s kind of inevitable, really, as there’s not much worth saying about the music of The Metros. Erm, it’s kinda funky, but kinda punky? A sort of groove-powered take on chindie? The best I can say about “Last Of The Lookers” is that it’s moderately catchy, but it’s also pretty forgettable. But then The Metros aren’t being sold on the basis of their music so much as their public persona, and that persona isn’t aimed at my demographic anyway - which, going on previous form, means they’ll probably be massive. Your mileage may vary.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: chindie, indie, Last Of the Lookers, pop, punk, The Metros
