The Daves - Not in England
A group of young, working class lads pissed off with their humdrum 9-5 existence, form a band and write songs about their dreams of escapism. Sounds familiar? The Daves are the latest in a seemingly endless chain of laddish bands writing their own brand of proletarian blues, and like a good many of their predecessor’s they are pretty irked with life in ‘Dear Old Blighty’. ‘Not in England’ is the band’s debut, lyrically it sounds like the kind of conversation that you might hear amongst dissatisfied punters on a delayed commuter train; such is its clichéd murmurings of discontent about life in ‘Engerland’. You know the sort; the weather’s crap, nothing exciting ever happens here etc, etc. Musically it sounds like the very definition of pub-rock and thus the single is hardly inspiring stuff, the musical equivalent of pie and mash. Tried and trusted, but without any real flavour to set it apart from other lumpen drivel.
A slight improvement is B-side ‘Left behind’. A turbo-charged attack of a song driven by towering guitar riffs it is possessed with a typically fierce, disenchanted urgency which calls to mind early Oasis. Listening to the two, it is puzzling that this is merely the flip-side. If this is the best that The Daves have to offer, I would be willing to wager that it will be a long time before they are tax-exiles in some faraway sunny haven. Unlucky lads