Track Listing > >
Nazanin / The Photos On My Wall / Morden / All In My Head / Never Meant To Hurt You / Blue Eyes / Sophia / We Are Not The Same / Small Town Girl / In The City / Things To Make And Do / Everybody's Talking / Ice Age / Wait
BRILLE RECORDS
There seems to be a ridiculous amount of exciting new guitar bands popping up all over the UK right now, every week somebody unearthing the next big thing. Good Shoes are one of those hotly tipped buzz acts, another fresh new band delivering spiky edged pop songs and punk energy. Following a string of thrilling singles and a punishing tour schedule, debut album THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK cements the bands position as ones to watch for 2007.
A song such as PHOTOS ON MY WALL explodes from the starting blocks in a frenzied jostle of jerky guitar snaps, scattershot drum hits and excitable vocal yelps and solidifies Good Shoes reputation for pumping out infectiously catchy punk pop brilliance. Sounding like Razorlight if they dropped the superiority complex and just kicked back and wrote some kick ass tunes, Good Shoes are a barrage of wired guitar riffs and jerky vocal barks; Rhys Jones delivering the choruses with an excitable energy that's equal parts Johnny Borrell, Carl Barat and Gaz Combes.
Excitable, infectious pop with spiky punk attitude, Good Shoes make one of the best fresh faced indie rock rackets since The Strokes first picked up guitars; WE ARE NOT THE SAME bristles with youthful energy and jerky punk rock moves. As the twin guitar stabs that open the song are joined by jittery drum patterns and catchy melodies, Good Shoes quickly prove their worth. Fronted by a singer who sounds like Pete Shelley channelling Paul Weller, this is a band that believe in short sharp shocks. ALL IN MY HEAD resembles a more angular and lithe update on Pulp; the kind of thing indie dancefloors have been crying out for since the last Franz Ferdinand album, angular guitar jerks and frenetic drum beats vying for attention, Rhys Jones dropping his arch vocal melodies over the top and completing his transformation into a Jarvis Cocker for the new generation whilst NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU is another fantastic three minutes of jagged pop presence and indie-rock charm; this is sure to be the beginnings of something huge.
Coming good on all that early promise and excitable buzz, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK is the debut album Good Shoes have been threatening to unleash since those thrilling early demos. Excitable, fresh faced indie pop, Good Shoes are a band to love and adore in equal measure.
BIOGRAPHY
The contradictory world that Good Shoes inhabit is a beautiful ball of youthful confusion. At once cheerfully naive and knowingly wise, cynically lovelorn yet doughy-eyed, these are universally common themes that permeate all fourteen tracks of pop perfection on THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. Despite recording in Sweden, Good Shoes returned with an album that is distinctly British, yet, despite even Rhy's London accent, strangely universal. It's the classic rock n' roll recipe of catchy, articulate songs of teenage insecurity and arrogance, suburban boredom and frustration, none more clearly spelled out than on the deliriously bittersweet MORDEN and SOPHIA. Mostly though the songs have one thing in common with every great 'sound of the suburbs'. Every song belongs on the dance-floor.
A preview of the sublime development of their sound since signing with Brille some eighteen months ago the band release NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU on March 13th before the longplayer THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK finally satiates their fans' patience on the 26th and provides a testament to the benefits of not rushing a debut album. With such typically touching vignettes of young relationships as "Things were so much better when we were young, I never meant to hurt you, you never knew I didn't love you...im just sorry im such a typical man", along with the kind of precision musicianship that bands slave for and Good Shoes effortlessly produce having already done their share of slaving, its another anthem from Rhys et al.
With their first 7" selling for 20 pounds on ebay, and their second sold out in a week, south London kings of teen angst and suburban malaise Good Shoes are set to release their first full single ALL IN MY HEAD on Brille Records. The quintessentially British sound combined with the youthful swagger of Rhys Jones unique song writing makes them one of the most exciting bands around today. This is a foursome that makes the writing of great singles seem simple, their simple catchy songs and melodies belying hidden lyrical and musical depth. And there is Rhys' voice, swinging beautifully between arrogance and insecurity, innocence and insouciance.
LINE UP
Rhys Jones
Joel Cox
Steve Leach
Tom Jones
DISCOGRAPHY
WE ARE NOT THE SAME (Brille>2006)
We Are Not The Same
Southwest Trains
May Lannoye
Things To Make And Do
ALL IN MY HEAD (Brille Records>2006)
All In My Head
Questions & Answers
Wrong & Right
THE PHOTOS ON MY WALL (Brille Records>2006)
The Photos On My Wall
Beautiful
Death Fame
NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU (Brille Records>2007)
Never Meant To Hurt You (Radio Edit)
Valley Boy
Saturday
It's Impossible
Never Meant To Hurt You (Demo Version)
THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK (Brille Records>2007)
Nazanin
The Photos On My Wall
Morden
All In My Head
Never Meant To Hurt You
Blue Eyes
Sophia
We Are Not The Same
Small Town Girl
In The City
Things To Make And Do
Everybody's Talking
Ice Age
Wait
LINKS
Good Shoes>www.goodshoes.co.uk
FURTHER LISTENING
The Strokes
Razorlight
The Kooks
Review date: February 2007 |
