Reviews
10 Nov 2008 by Cath Aubergine
manchestermusic.co.uk
Early doors at Ruby Lounge; not many in, the first band are line-checking an acoustic guitar and a keyboard - three pretty normal looking lads who could be in any band. Done, they slip off and re-emerge seconds later as... well, Google image search "Plague Doctor" and you'll see that Manchester's greatest (OK, probably only) electro-lunatic post-karaoke boy-band are simply taking their nomenclature literally. Can't help thinking The Wombats would be so much more interesting if they did likewise. Well, a bit. "Work is shit, I just want to be a pop star" sing our caped trio and they are approximately 60 per cent taking the piss. Fact is, it'll be the insanely catchy hook of the post-Stock/Aitken/Waterman "Wasting My Time" that'll still be in my head two days later as opposed to anything by the three more grown-up bands that follow, and new one "Change Your Mind" is more of the same (albeit with few of the aimed-for notes actually hit) - somewhere inside this pissed-up joke that got out of hand is a great pop dream team. It is, however, melodramatic pomp-schlocker "Diana 2.0" - in which the Peoples' Princess is reanimated as a cyborg to save the world over something that sounds a lot like "The Omen" music - which has the next band laughing so much we wonder if they'll actually be able to compose themselves sufficiently to actually play in a minute...