As Crosby’s Red Rum Club play to a crowded Zanzibar, Getintothis’ Carlos Goodshoes soaks up all this ambitious young band have to offer.
If Ennio Morricone was a young man and moved to Liverpool to start a band, then the band he’d form would be Red Rum Club. This is the soundtrack to a classic movie featuring six lads from Crosby.
The movie’s stars are a collection of big, anthemic, singles each accompanied by the driving, melodic sound of early Sixties guitar riffs. But they’re not retro and they’re not a pastiche, they are a band oozing with ambition and confidence. They’ve done their homework and the addition of trumpet on each track brings a unique twist to their moviescape.
They open with Drive, an instant crowd mover as the room begins to bounce in time to the pounding drums – we’re in for something good. Alone Together, is an obvious single, filled with hooks, melodies and a massive chorus that wanders into the crowd, pushing and nudging you as it forces itself through the mass of bodies.
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If you do your home work, you discover things and there’s a definite nod to the Bunnymen and early Icicle Works with a whiff of The Killers thrown in but when has that ever been a bad thing?
The secret is to be influenced enough to add. Take a classic recipe and add your own unique ingredient. And add they do. Front man Fran Doran, was born for this, he struts the stage like he is meant for it, his voice fills the room with ease and power. It’d fill a large field. Maybe it will one day.
At one point, Fran jokes about the next song, Boomerang, saying it should be the next Bond theme. It should have been the last one. The TV Said So has the place bouncing along to its Who-like power-chords and infectious melody. They end the set strongly with their anthem Brown Eyes.
