Up The Junction: Last Gang, The Runaway Sons, White Light Parade and The Novelties at The Junction, 29/11/07

Second were The White Light Parade, a four-piece outfit from Bradford, fronted by brothers Danny and Jono Yates. What I most like about this band is the uplifting optimism of their sound. Once I overcame my surprise and excitement at the rare sight of a female drummer, I found myself drawn in by the slick guitar riffs and catchy hooks of songs like ‘Wait for the Weekend’ and the raw, punk-inspired orgy that was ‘Turning all the Lights Down’. In the words of my ‘plus 1’, “This is the band the Kaiser Chiefs wish they were. WLP fills the void left ever since the likes of The Jam and The Sex Pistols left the scene”. Slightly less superlatively I would describe it as ‘indie-punk’. Their single, ‘Wait for the Weekend’, is out on December 10.

The Runaway Sons were up next, with a lacklustre performance compared to WLP. Lead singer Andy Gaines was working the ‘look at me, I’m a tortured artist’ routine, which wasn't excused by music that, whilst executed with near perfection, just wasn’t all that inspiring. Their music was steeped in true rock and roll tradition, but unfortunately complete with Pete Doherty-esque self-obsessed fanfare. What is impossible to ignore about the Sons, however, is the country blues aesthetic of their music – evident most of all in ‘Down the Line’, which starts off as a slow, almost mournful homage to the blues, then is brought home with an orgy of hypnotic guitars and thrashing drums – kind of like the illegitimate lovechild of Jimi Hendrix and Kings of Leon.

Finally, we come to the evening’s headliners, Last Gang. The first thing I thought when doing a cheeky bit of pre-gig MySpace research was ‘if McFly were an indie band, this is what they’d sound like’ – but having heard them live, I’m not sure where I stand anymore. This four-piece from Wakefield were definitely the poppiest of the bands that night, but also the most sincere. The music was heart felt, honest, and cockle-warming; like punk executed in the middle of a playground. Stand-out track ‘Love Can Be’ sounds like the scribblings of a love-sick fourteen-year-old who’s just had his heart broken for the first time, whereas ‘We Can’t Go On’ screams ‘this is the first day of the rest of my life’ optimism. The band made up for their more mainstream approach when compared to the other bands by avoiding the grating aggressive and cocky attitude.

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