No matter whether you like 4ft Fingers or not, respect is due for the fact they’re still going. I don’t think anyone would try and argue against the fact the band have probably had their day in the spotlight and that their brand of skate-punk is about as fashionable as a bright yellow shellsuit, yet every year they tour the UK toilet circuit and every other year we get a consistently good pop-punk album. With the record industry dying on it’s arse it will be interesting to see how the public responds to a new 4ft record – in the days of P-Rock they were, quite rightly, one of the UK’s biggest bands with sold out tours and videos on prime time TV. But as their fanbase has grown up, the UK underground scene become less fashionable and music tastes have changed it remains to be seen how 4ft 2008 will be received by the general public.
‘New Beginnings of Old Stories’ isn’t as fast as the band’s previous records. There are more vocal melodies, the songs are better structured (and more varied in structure) and while the choruses are still there, they’re not as abrasive, on the whole, as they have been in previous years. There are no ‘Brickwalls’ or ‘Last Man Standing’s’ on here, let’s put it that way. And while 4ft have kept their Britishness, they’ve slightly toned things down. I guess you could say they’ve matured with age.
‘Where Did All The Legends Go?’ and the album’s title track are very catchy, solid songs which better the vast majority of UK bands around right now, but I do wonder a little just who wants to listen to this band anymore. And I don’t mean that offensively, I just think times have changed and moved on and even the bands that played this type of music 10 or 15 years ago, such as No Use For A Name, are starting to struggle. Good Riddance called it a day recently too. I guess that’s more power to the band for playing music they love and, more importantly, want to play. And it’s perhaps a sad indictment of the underground music scene in 2008.
Are 4ft Fingers still relevant? I don’t know. At least this record proves they can still do it.