(Tooth and Nail) www.thedeadlines.com
So here we have another bunch bouncing eagerly off the press clutching a copy of Raw Power like it's the only record they have... Yeah yeah blah blah it's a fucking great record but come on. Yawn... it just makes averagey stuff seem more average, especially when you're jonesing for something that hits like the Moida City Devils, The Dogs D'Amour or, on the other hand, Steve Earle or Julie Miller, or whoever. Altho' to be fair, I'd rather hear stuff, such as this, which, whilst I don't think it's at all worldbeating, wears it's Stooges influence on it's sleeve rather than some "spotty little idiots" (unusual to quote Liam Gallagher, let alone listen to anything he says but this summation of The Strokes is arguably, or IS, the best thing he's ever said). I mean, this rawks in a perfectly lithe way but without the suss, swagger & lyrical stylishness of Jamie Maker, or the Murder City Devil's sheer unique idiosyncracy & heart. The 'Lines have got character & the attitude's all there present & correct, they do look kinda cool & the songs are strong enuff overall, great party music but it's just a bit uninvolving. & I couldn't give a gretsch country gent about pushing musical boundaries, I'll leave that to fuckers who weren't born to Rock'n'Roll but to me The Deadlines don't really have that slant/angle/quirk thing to really capture, & oh yes, fire the imagination & spark the spirit. The songs (some of which, like the title track, International Jet-Set (with it's funky AC/DC boogie), & Napalm Holiday are highlights) are full of over-familiar riffs some of which niggle as they don't come to mind straight away. See the riff from Flamin' Groovies Yesterday's Numbers in Double Take (after it'd already being keifed by the Quireboys - Quireboys Uk to some of you), or the fact that Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell is recallable in two different songs (I Want A Stalker & Cut it Loose - on this last also combined with a slightly amended Sonic Reducer riff). And I'll gladly walk the plank if Why You Running doesn't sound like The Four Tops should be in a next door room bashing the wall thru' a la Steve Tyler/Run DMC shouting "Yo! Reach Out's faster than that". (good tune tho, prowling alleycat drums - but then you can't fail really can you?). Hypothetically anyway, as I'd need Heather Nova there in mermaid form to catch me... Also there are hints of the dreaded & dreadful Manics in their early GN'R/Hanoi Rocks fixation, & Dandy Warhols, (eg Fashion over Function, an engagingly tho overrused riff but it has "single" stitched in every seam) but without their occasional glimmer of inventive brilliance, or Spiritualized obsession. They've got the clothes tho'! & maybe that's the crux of the matter - "Fashion over Function" - as someone who distrusts & abhors the word fashion I'll give them the benefit of the doubt & pretend they mean style cos that would be an admirable quality especially coming from a place where every cunt wears an anorak & every other bugger dresses like The Strokes all of a sudden but maybe they should spend equal if not more time on the other part of the package. Namely the songs. - Stu Gibson