No Fringe benefits here.
After making a name for themselves as part of T-Break 2006, its probably no great surprise to see Sargeant welcomed into the fold of T on The Fringe 2007 with a support slot that could easily be seen as a co-headlining night. Very early on the band are defined by their jangly guitars, their mod hairdos and their light and poppy music which stands them out as 60s revitalists. Its the sort of music that being played the length and breadth of Scotland and it appears to be going down a storm with the youngsters of the nation, particularly the ones who shoved their way to the front of the stage.
The opening track of the night had a chorus which centred around sunshine through my window, which was very funny as it brought to mind Northern Uproar. For those who recall they boys, haha great days eh? For those of you unfortunate enough to miss out on the might of the 'Roar should do yourselves a favour and see another bunch of young guitar heroes who had the talk but not the talent to make a lasting impression, and theres every chance the same fate will befall Sargeant.
They looked quite nervous and the regional Scots accent couldn't help put the first time listener into the mindset of The View and no doubt any marketing men will be counting the pound signns at the thought of unleashing another similar act onto the Indie landscape. As the set continued the songs started to sound more and more alike and there was a distinct lack of variety from the band. The crowd was indulging in some sing-song moments and there was a bit of pogoing down the front but it seemed a bit forced and it failed to spread through the compact venue.
The band walked off to rapturous applause but it all came from a very biased fanbase, who very quickly launched into a chant of "Who the fuck are Figure 5?" which was funny but evidently more ignorant. Then again, the main chant that the Sargeant fans seem to have is "Merzo has a willy" which probably indicates the juvenile young boy nature of the crowd but it can only be hoped that they'll grow out of it one day. On the other hand, it perhaps explains why there is a fanbase for a band whose music, whilst of a decent standard, is largely one-dimensional and unbelievably retro in nature.