FLATS
It’s been a long time coming that’s for sure. Who would be the NEW band, the NEW thing? Who would take the indie baton from the old guard and basically strut along keeping the status quo of music boring? Well I can happily say that it’s not FLATS, they might occasionally pop up in the weekly music rags but part of the indie elite they are not. Asking lead singer Dan Davine what he thinks of the latest NME top 10 chart is like asking a pit-bull what he thinks of the EU summit, firstly you get a look of confusion, closely followed by anger then a quick run down of bands you should listen to instead of the watered down drivel we are spoon fed week in week out. His hatred of bands such as Gang of Four and “angular guitar riffs over a disco beat” is something that follows him around and always makes him popular as he joins the list of “if you don’t want my answer, then don’t asking me the question” template of outspoken musicians that came before him. FLATS have an underlined manifesto of give it out fast, loud, heavy and nasty (they pull all of this off track after track in their set) they aren’t here to re-invent the wheel they are just happy to be here and want to get their kicks while the night is still young and before the rollercoaster comes to an end.
Tracks up on their MySpace page and which litter their set in under 2 minute bursts include “Rat Trap” and “Mucky Pup” which kick out at the very people that think they’re being contemporary and influential but are singing from a hymn sheet so outdated you wonder if they even know the Vietnam war has ended. The former “Rat Trap” itself screams out at Mods, revivals, The Jam, The Who with such venom that even though they are bands which have a special place in my heart you start to get caught up by the noise and contemplate frisbeeing that well worn copy of “Quadrophenia” over the dual carriage way before its over, although as it ends you just prefer to place it back down again and wipe the sweat from your brow.
Punk is a word and genre that gets attached to all types of bands and styles in recent times and I can see how a band like FLATS would want to steer clear of such standard pigeon holing but Punk seems to be the only genuine phrase I can think of that sums them up with any degree of accuracy. Forget Mohawks and studded jackets like the “welcome to London” post cards show punks to be like. FLATS are punks, fucking noisy little punks that will hopefully create a big enough gap in the generation from the last that there will be people the right side of 25 smashing their MP3 players in disgust of “the state of music today” when one of their songs comes up.
http://www.myspace.com/flatsofcourse
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