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| Locksley: Don’t Make Me Wait  
Label: FeatureReleased: 2007  |
Writing the press release for a band, especially a new band, is one of the more thankless jobs in the music business, and given the hundreds of spelling and grammatical errors we’ve seen in press releases from the last year alone, it’s clear that not even the people assigned to the task are taking it very seriously. And that’s okay: after all, it’s the music that matters in the end, right? Right, but sometimes a press release comes along that is so mind-boggling, so hacktastically lazy, that it stands to torpedo a band’s image before the reviewer has had a chance to pop the disc into his laptop. Witness the first paragraph from the press release of the Wisconsin quartet Locksley:
| “Wisconsin is one of those Midwest states that we all assume is running rampant with overweight Miller High Life drinking blue collar boys at the Lambough Field. Not exactly where you’d imagine the next Brit-Pop sensations coming from, that’s for sure. This is a state better known for their cheese and… um, well yeah just cheese, than their good taste in music. But their latest export, Locksley, will be changing that stereotype soon enough.” |
Overweight, Miller High Life-drinking blue collar boys? Only known for their cheese? The Lambough Field? Jesus tap-dancing Christ. There’s even a comment later about moving to the “musically respectable” neighborhood of Brooklyn. The whole thing smacks of east coast elitism, right? Guess again. Upon further investigation, it turns out that the author of this piece is from…Madison, Wisconsin. And I’m guessing he/she has never played sports. Ever. The Lambough Field. Wow. The press release later speaks of changing the stereotype of Midwesterners, but clearly not before exploiting it for a slew of cheap laughs.
But try not to hold this grossly oversimplified blanket statement about Wisconsin residents against the groovy Locksley. Their debut, Don’t Make Me Wait, is 33 super-cool minutes of classic pop in the hands of hipster kitties (imagine the Strokes covering A Hard Day’s Night). The songs are both quick and brief – the longest track time: 3:36 – and the songs have both punch and sweetness. Get in, get out, move on: you have to love a band whose songs that take less time to listen to than it takes to read the title of a song from your typical emo album.
Check out “She Does,” which is vintage Macca-channeling-Little Richard rock & soul. “Let Me Know,” meanwhile, is more Lennonesque, as is “My Kind of Lover,” with lots of ‘girl’s strewn liberally throughout the proceedings. They even do a nifty update on Gerry and the Pacemakers on “The Past and the Present.” But lest you think the band is stuck in the past, the opening and title track will settle which decade the band is planted in, as will the guitar work on “Up the Stars.”
If the Lolas’ Silver Dollar Sunday (a must-own for any self-respecting fan of both the Beatles and the Stone Roses) was a modern-day tribute to mid-period Beatles, then Don’t Make Me Wait is its equivalent to the Ed Sullivan years. It’s simple, it’s smart, and it’s absurdly catchy. One thing is for sure: if you were thinking about picking up that Smithereens album where they cover Meet the Beatles in its entirety, you’d be much better off getting this instead.
davidm@bullz-eye.com