Non-rubbish New Band Alert!

Another decent lot from the Northwest. It's a trend!

What have Daley Thompson, Sebastian Coe, Fatima Whitbread and an unknown band from Carlisle got in common? The answer, apart from bulging muscles and a winning mentality, is that they are all Stars Of Track & Field.

Allow us to explain. You may remember that recently we went to an all-day music festival and quite enjoyed hearing a band called Stars Of Track & Field, whose ability to impress us was remarkable on two counts:

1) They were the first band on and everyone was sat down at the back
2) We were still sober enough to hold a valid opinion on live music

After the set we spoke to Blake and Jenni from the band and were able to garner the following EXCLUSIVE INFORMATION:

:: They argue over what genre they are
:: They argue over what their best song is
:: They argue quite a lot really

Despite the apparent disharmony within the group they are very friendly people and appear to get on quite well with each other, at least in front of strangers.

But enough about the people, what about the music?

SOT+F are a tricky barrel of fish whose genre confusion is quite understandable. They fuse elements of indiepop, rock and ska (wait, come back! etc.) into a great big shouty party sound that is a lot more infectious than it has any real right to be.

Their first EP, ‘Not Here To Shop’ is a tidy effort that makes up in enthusiasm and wanton hook-dropping what it lacks in production.

Opener ‘Temporary Thing’ betrays the band’s ska side the most; its verses lolling atop a steady reggae-tinged riff before exploding into a chorus of crazy blues punk frenzy (really). They carry the quiet bit/loud bit trick over into EP highlight ‘Fall Of Everything’, a track that showcases singer Jenni’s not-inconsiderable vocal talents. This year a lot has been said about how great Beth Ditto shouting all over the place is, but in reality it’s reassuring to find a singer that can shout and sing, and do either, with equal ease, at the drop of a bassline.

The rest of the EP doesn’t quite match up to the opening, but it has a good go: ‘Night Out Of Hell’’s Coral-esque time changes give way to a breakdown that brings to mind Karen O narrating the end of the world over The Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind’, while ‘Take Off’ is the sort of sweet ballad that - if the OC was still going - would probably see the band signed up to soundtrack an ‘emotional’ break-up scene and catapulted to global stardom.

So there you have it. Another good thing about SOT+F is that - unlike 99% of jobbing rock bands who want everything handed to them on a fucking plate - they are prepared to work hard to get noticed, and seem to have a basic grasp of what ‘getting noticed’ actually entails - their next major objective is to play Manchester as often as possible and bassist Blake works tirelessly at building a list of contacts and MySpace friends. With Stars Of Track & Fields’ infectious enthusiasm for what they do, it’s little surprise these contacts often become fans.

Stars Of Track & Field On MySpace