Wank deluxe!
At last years Tin Pan Alley Festival Rank Deluxe got talking to XFM's Jon Kennedy, who was compeering that day, and today for that matter, and handed him a demo CD of their tracks, a few months later they were booked in for a rather boisterous session and interview for Jon's Xposure show. Kate, the festival organizer, approached them to play today after hearing their tracks and the association and neatly completed a circle that began 12 months ago.
Heavily influenced by their environment of Thamesmead and pulling no punches in their description of it in their lyrics, they play a highly taught thrashy version of punk cut through with the occasional nod to Jamaica in the form of Ska.
Today they powered through four songs : "Steal My Soul", "Pleasure", "The Doll Queue" and "Style" with a confidence that belies their age and in the process mocking the fact that incredibly they remain unsigned. Their final track "Style", and the way it was performed, pretty much sums up what they're about : a guitar line as sharp as a flick knife, lyrics with more attitude than a nest of rattlesnakes, both executed with a swagger that would put John Wayne to shame. They're also a band that understands the importance of connecting and communicating with the crowd and more importantly they know how to do it, be it with the humorous bickering between the bassist and singer or the way in which they hustle and cajole the crowd into singing along : no small feat at such an early point of the day.
The only down side was the brevity and placing of their performance, clocking in at 20 mins it seemed too short and a slot later in the day would have been more suited to their energy.