WANNA
MEET.......THE WAKE UPS? - The Wake Ups (Laughing
Outlaw)Should have reviewed this ages ago but the damn thing was stuck in my player for months. Truly. Then Christmas came and...well, John McP beat me to it. Anyway, as you'll realise from his write-up (which, salving my conscience somewhat, I note has
been
up there for nearly a year), the Wake Ups are The Band Formally Known as The
Scruffs. John's championing of their cause as a live entity resulted, partly,
in Laughing Outlaw checking out and signing them. The name change came
because of a clash with an overseas outfit and the label reissued their album,
already out in Spain under the title "The Actual Size" but impossible
to find anywhere else.So why should you care? Because you probably won't hear such fine, tightly-wound guitar pop in many a year. Because Ryan Ellsmore's nervy, emotive vocals manage to convey resigned vulnerability, bitterness and precociousness all at the same time? Because he and Matt Galvin play stinging guitars that dispel any fears that this is just going to be another one of those emo/crap pop bands that Triple Jay and US college radio seemingly love so much? Because Dan Bell and Richard Weinman anchor the whole shebang with a solid rock swing? Try all of the above.
"Nobody Slows" was the first Wake Ups (Scruffs) song I heard on record - on the Lost Weekend powerpop compile, I believe - and it still nags away, all tension and soaring vocal. But it's "Let You Down" that corners the market on nagging with its jagged guitar intro that yields to soaring rock-pop with just a hint of jingle-jangle. "It's Not Me" is a little too frail for my tastes. "What's the Big Idea" rings like a Pyramidiacs tune (not a bad thing...now there's an idea for a reality TV show...two Sydney bands swap studios and write a song for each other while they redecorate...) "Trash" isn't the Dolls tune but that's not observation, not a complaint; it manages to cover a lot of stylistic ground before pop yields to rock.
And so it goes on "N Scale" where the guitars briefly take on a shimmering, Television feel before steering back into straight rock territory. "You Make Me Nervous" and "My Friends Are So Boring" might be the two most "out there" cuts here (and make the chiming guitars and mellotron of "Keep It To Yourself" sound positively mainstream.)
This is truly distinctive rock-pop and fortunately not over-polished by the band and co-producer Michael Carpenter (who seems to have a finger in every worthwhile pop pie.) Sad news is that drummer Richard Weinman (Intercontinental Playboys, John Reed Club) has apparently packed it in to travel overseas, leaving a question mark over the future of a band whose diverse commitments have made live gigs thin on the ground. Let's hope they press on in his absence and we hear album number two. - The Barman
