Friday 11/05/07 Ghosts, Alterkicks @ Barfly, Glasgow

Alterkicks is a good name for a band, no boring The…. here. Instead something a bit different, a bit mysterious and a bit intriguing . Unfortunately, the Liverpool quintet’s opening two songs suggest that the band name is the only thing of value they’ve got.  Both ’Oh Honey’ and ‘May’ appear to have spliced the Coral’s DNA with that of the Kooks, creating mildly psychedelic guitar driven pop with some acoustic guitar sprinkled over them. Both drag on and are painfully tedious, suggesting that Alterkicks are yet another band that has been hyped up only to fall flat on their faces. There’s simply a lack of urgency with them both plodding along like a vehicle on cruise control.

Thankfully, things change and Alterkicks start to find a groove, their more interesting and creative impulses coming to the fore. So ‘Cannibal’ is gleefully dark, marrying warped lyrics with bursts of frazzled psychedelia and creating something that’s twisted yet still poppy. Vocalist Martin Stilwell’s lament of ‘When The Ice Breaks’ still has a persistent bounce running through it that prevents the track from sliding into mawkishness and instead it retains a tunefulness that’s hard to resist. The band’s regular gigging has also ensured that their musicianship remains tight, even if the odd technical problem hinders the set. Luckily, set closer ‘Reach Out’ showcases that musical connection, the band brewing up a lashing, driving fuzzy rock out, complete with a false finish.  Alterkicks still have too many clunking tracks that slow down the pace but they do still have sparks about them that may yet become a bright light.

The same is true of Ghosts. With a barrage of hype now accompanying them the London five-piece take to the stage with an expectant gaggle now gathering down the front. Yet they’re a frustrating band, coming across likeable yet distant while their music merely drags along. Ghosts sound is fit for radio and will nestle nicely alongside the likes of Snow Patrol, the Feeling and that ilk. However their brand of swooning  indie pop simply isn’t that interesting. Both former single ‘Stay The Night’ and upcoming release ‘The World Is Outside’ are the pick of the bunch and at least prove Ghosts do have some promise.

‘Stay The Night’ boasts an almost country stimulus before juddering into soaring, guitar powered  life while ‘The World Is Outside’ is simply a textbook example of uplifting power pop and at least possesses enough snap to separate it from being Keane esque. They conclude the gig with a fierce punch of a song, one that starts off slowly before rising up and turning into a lengthy jam that actually works well.

Yet they’re pegged back by the general malaise that affects their sound. They’re simply not too interesting most of the time and Gigwise’s attention often lapses to other matters, such is the general straight forward nature of the material. They also inflict a cover of the Pussycat Dolls track ‘Don’t Cha’ that, for the sake of everyone’s sanity, is best thought off as some terrible hallucination and not something that actually happened.  For if it had taken place it would surely have unbelievably awful.

So, a narrow edge to Alterkicks on the night, though while both acts show potential they’ll need to raise their game to become more than musical footnotes.