The best thing to come out of Bexhill ? Admittedly it’s not really a claim to fame, but Fleeing From Finales can certainly lay claim to being the best band I’ve heard from the town and, with some real hard work, can maybe even become the town‘s most famous sons. What FFF do isn’t wholly original – it’s a mix of Fall Out Boy, Something Corporate and Mae – but they do it better than practically any other UK band. And they’ve only been together a few months and this is their first recording. Promising? Oh yes…
Be warned – FFF are by no means the finished article, but they have so many good ideas. Song structures deperately need work and I think with a little professional advice they can fine tune their songs to make them even better. That will also come with experience too. Pop-punk bands need to hit the spot within the first 30 seconds and only one of the three tracks here does that – even though all three have huge sounding choruses, they just take too long to get going at times. Sam Little sounds a bit like Patrick from fall Out Boy and the use of keys, piano, synth and a variety of other instruments adds a little spice. It’s creative, inventive and all added together sounds rather lovely.
‘Face It, Your Mamma Was A Dancer Too’ is a good strong effort that could be a lot better with some work, but it’s ‘An Emotional Summer Of Cricket’ which hits several spots. I’d sign this band on this song alone. It’s perfect. The vocals are bang on; the track builds beautifully and the chorus has hung around my head for days. Bands that have signed to major labels will struggle to write a song better than this during their whole career – FFF have done it on their first release. So why have I only given this a 7/10 equivalent? Well, I truly believe this band have the talent to go far, but there are parts to songs which sound a bit odd or seem to be thrown in because other bands do it, rather than because the track actually needs it. ‘Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!’, for example, cleverly uses a synth effect as an intro but it takes a bit to long to get going. It’s songwriting inexperience – hack the first 25 seconds and get straight into it.
Fleeing From Finales have oodles of potential. ‘An Emotional Summer Of Cricket’ is four-and-a-half star worthy in its own right where everything is in the right place. If the band can find this level of consistency over 6 or 7 songs then they will be a force to be reckoned with. What they need to do now is practice, practice, practice and play as many toilet venues as they can. If they do the hard work I have no doubts they will get the success their talents suggest they should get. Nothing is ever handed to you on a plate, but I really do think FFF can go places if they work their arses off.
How much do you want it boys? Because if you want it enough, you can get it…
www.myspace.com/fleeingfromfinales
For Winners Records
Paul