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The press release for this single had praise for the band quoted from ‘Drummer Magazine’ and something called ‘Damn Pest’. I was a little bit worried that it was going to be loud, heavy metal on the CD. Obviously you should never judge a band by it’s press quotes because Mama Scuba play guitar and drum based indie music. And they are pretty good at it!
The first song – El Shake – is short, less than two and a half minutes, but it is an excellent couple of minutes! It has one thing in common with most heavy metal songs - I have trouble making out the words, but it really doesn’t matter because the music is so good.
Lazy Belay reminds me a little bit of Starsailor but these guys are less whiney and seem much more likeable! Sweet Girl is both rockier and angrier than the other two. It’s a little bit too angsty for my taste, but that could be because I have thankfully left my teenage years behind me.
Mama Scuba are at their best with the short and poppy El Shake – more of that please!
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Countermine are a five piece band from Bath, and according to their website, have not yet released a record. Instead they have built up a following by playing live all over the UK. The CD I listened to had three versions of the same song – Letters (which confused me the first time I put it on, I thought I had it on repeat by mistake!).
It’s a very good song, a breaking up song that is lush with keyboards and nice guitar sounds. It’s the kind of song that I would sing along with it in the car, with passion. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more on the CD, because I would like to hear more from this band.
They are playing a few live dates this week – 12th May Hammersmith Apollo, May 13th Manchester Academy, May 15th Sheffield Leadmill, May 16th Bristol Fleece and then hitting the festivals in June. They will play at T in the Park, Ilse of Wight, Glastonbury and Oxegen, and I think they are definitely worth checking out.
Grainne Lynch
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