Samurai Showdown EP,
PoindexterThe UK punk scene is positively thriving at the moment and the latest new kids on the block are Kent's Poindexter. This skate punk foursome, led by the exotically named frontman Gary Mendoza, give us their first ever release, the bizarrely entitled 'William G Stewart vs Richard Whiteley Samurai Showdown EP'.
This lot have already supported the likes of Midtown and Lightyear in their brief lifetime and from what is on show here it's quite likely that they will have gone down reasonably well with fans of either band. Far from being the finished article, Poindexter are a rough diamond that with a bit of polish could end up as a shining light in the UK scene.
EP opener 'The Sure Thing' is nothing short of sensational. It's the stuff that makes four-and-a-half star cds. OK, the singer can't hold the long notes and the guitarist hits a dodgy note every now and then, but the song itself is brilliant. It's emotastic even, the right amount of melody mixed with some solid drumming. Ok, it's the usual girl-fucks up-boy kinda stuff, but when it's as good as this who cares? Not me that's for sure. It's just a disappointment that this is far and away the best song here.
'Holden Caulfield' is average to be honest. Imagine Moon Ska's Whitmore and you won't be far off. It's not that bad a song by any means, just it's all been seen and heard a billion times before. And I suspect that all but three of that billion have been better than this. Predictable with cheesy lyrics, it's a disappointment considering how good the previous song is. Ending with a belch the track shows that the band probably want to be Blink 182, which unfortunately for them is soooo year 2000...
The hideously titled 'See ya. No really. Fuck Off' is better, but not that great. Names like that may be funny to the band, but for everybody else it's not. Go away and rename boys... The track itself sounds good, but again it's a bit predictable. The singer makes the odd faux-pas again, but with it being a debut release it can be forgiven. There's the hint of bands like No Use For A name buried away in there, shoved in amongst the melody and tight drumming.
Closer 'All Our Songs Are Really Short' adds fuel to the fire that Poindexter really want to be Blink, and although there's nothing wrong with that, there is a fine line as to what is funny and what isn't. Although this track is mildly amusing the first couple of times round, the joke soon wears thin. It's not bad, it's just not great either.
Poindexter show enough promise here to be worthy of support shows for the near future at least, but with more songs like 'The Sure Thing' the sky really is the limit. Dump the humour, write from the heart and we could be seeing and hearing a lot more from this motley crew in the future.
Paul Savage
