The View - 'The Don'
The Roman writer Tacitus, in 'Agricola' (all about how good the general of the same name was at conquering Ancient Britain), described the Scots as a fearsome and barbarous people, given to 'songs, shouts and dischordant cries' and generally lairing about, probably painted blue. Of course, back then that sort of thing was totally normal and Tacitus was just a great big culturally imperialist meanie with an unhealthy interest in writing about his stepdad, if we're honest so we could ignore all that business since clearly no country could produce Belle and Sebastian with that sort of racket going on the background.
(Here's the View live at Radio 1's One Big Weekend)
Mind you, if you read anything about the View, you might start to think there was something to all that Hadrian's Wall business. Kids going wild at gigs! Signed to Pete Doherty's record label! STAYING UP PAST MIDNIGHT! Imagine the decay society would immediately experience if the sounds made by such a WILD and HARDCORE band was allowed on daytime radio! Journalists seem to leave their gigs wild-eyed and blithering about the sort of carnage you'd expect if you went to see Napalm Death. Except that Napalm Death deliver their politically-charged metallic noise in a perfectly friendly and civilised manner and presumably the View lock all the doors and scream 'FIRE!' halfway through their set to get that sort of results. [NB: this would be very, very bad, no matter how much you want a hit]
Y'see, I just don't see how anything like this jangly little number works people into a frenzy. Sure, it's fairly boring but I don't know if I'd necessarily have to go mad if I were forced to listen to it, so it can't be that. It's pretty hard to HEAR, actually. And while there's nothing exceptionally offensive about it, being a sort of Libertines-lite noise that all those bands with that sort of hair are making at the moment and it doesn't even have the weird resemblance to 'Brimful Of Asha' that 'Same Jeans' had.
I can't imagine Agricola getting all het up if he turned up at the border and found a load of people sitting around playing this on guitar and smoking roll-ups, he'd probably just assume they were students and tell them to get a real job or something and the thing is that if this was your mates playing this to pass the time over the Easter Bank Holiday or something, it'd be fine but you wouldn't remember it two weeks later.
With indie music everywhere at the minute, there's no need for this kind of thing. Even if you were buying it for the Scottish aspect, there're plenty of other, better bands from up there who don't just imitate Pete Doherty.
Download: Out now
CD Released: April 23rd
(Hazel Robinson)
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