Sunday 28/10/07 The Twang @ Cardiff University

This year has been an intriguing one for new music. Despite a flurry of fresh-faced artists gate crashing the top of the album charts and in turn selling out a string of impressive live dates, their existence has drawn a stark division between fans. For some, the likes of The View, The Enemy and Kate Nash are spearheading a post-Britpop revival with tales of small-town escapism and adolescent woe. For others, they’re a monotonous bunch of chancers whose time will surely expire come album number two.

So where does this leave The Twang? The Birmingham five-piece continue to be on the rise, but their ascent up the indie ladder has left some baffled by their clear rehashing of Manchester’s finest musical stalwarts - The Stone Roses and The Happy Mondays. The headliners may be living in a Baggy-shaped dream, but support band Look See Proof have their sights set on 21st century indie-disco. The Hertfordshire upstarts tear through a set brimming with spindly guitars and brain-cementing choruses that share the same stall as The Maccabees but follow through with more vigour and self-assurance.

Just as excitable are Little Man Tate. With a clutch of top 40 singles and parochial pop gems, you’d think that playing on the under-card to The Twang would be a tiresome exercise, but the band are dripping with boozy intent. The leering ‘Sexy In Latin’ is a quest in getting some action at university whilst ‘Boy In The Anorak’ is a storming slice of chest-beating indie-rock.

The Twang are as buoyant as ever, leaping onto the stage like a group of mischievous kids at youth club. They kick off with the bullish ‘Neighbour’, with frontmen Phil Etheridge and Martin Saunders bumbling around the stage fairly intoxicated muffling “Just do one/Just do one!”.

The chav-ballad Either Way has a line of wide-shouldered lads close to tears as Etheridge pours his heart out to the masses, underpinned by guitarist Jon Watkins baggy-coated riff. Etheridge can hardly be contained as he blasts a series of lyrical expletives to the surprisingly well-behaved crowd. The intensity was cranked up further by the euphoria of ‘Wide Awake.’ Lyrically, it’s a bit daft with Etheridge in two minds “What was I thinking/What was I doing with that milf”, but despite the wayward verse it’s hard not to get sucked in by the band’s startling confidence.

The encore kicks off with a cover of Bran Van 3000’s 'Drinking In LA' with Etheridge unfurling his Brummy tones around the hilarious rap. The bruising Crowded Room ends proceedings, with Etheridge playfully squaring up to a punter who chucked an apple core at him: “Who the **** takes an apple to a gig? You’re off your head mate!” The longevity of The Twang may well be in doubt, but they're a band who know their limitations just as much as they know their strengths. For the moment, they’ll be ’avin it for some time yet.