With support from Radio 1 and XFM you’d expect the subject band to be signed to a major label, and already tagged with the title of the ‘the world’s best rock band’ (by those hacks looking for a pocket-pickin’ headline). Eh, well no… You see The Fades seem to have lurched from pillar to post without any real ambition or direction. That is, until now.

David Lightfoot (guitar and vocals), James Lightfoot (bass and vocals), Bon Jarnard (lead guitar) and Graham Best (drums) have just recorded their first album called rather appropriately SOCIAL MISFITS and with, ‘a young open minded label’, Generpool Records. The band have harnessed that casual ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ attitude and produced an album that perhaps only it could have created. It’s raw, loose, diverse of pace and mood,and not bad at all.

Typical of all the songs here is an opening guitar riff gambit, usually accompanied by some rampant drum rhythms. 1995 is the opening sample of this musical model and offers a song of punishing and relentless pace. It sounds like a demo on speed, and just as satisfying. Hell, there’s even a melody underneath it all! There’s also a distinct punk rock flavour to the band’s songs exemplified in track two, You Say, with its jagged instrumental passages and walking pace vocals. As Blade proves, the guys also have a nose for a good lyric,: “I’m waiting for the blade to fall, It’s gonna come to take us all.” Succinct and to the point, this band doesn’t mix their metaphors too often.

As the album progresses, one gets the feeling that someone has said, “okay, let’s polish up the recording a tad” because much cleaner sounds emerge from the grooves starting with the band’s next single Social Misfits. The mood and pace of the record varies nicely and their use of instruments is often devastatingly good as in one of the albums strong highlights, the very dark Criminal. The album closes on a high with two super tracks in Get Better and the very original Another Song About Motorbikes.

If you like your rock raw like sushi, you’ll find a lot to enjoy with this band and this album. There’s also a live ambience about this recording that hints at a band well worth seeing perform – which is precisely what I would like to do. Recommended.

3.5/5