Leg-End X – We Went To Find Some Democracy In China But All We Found Was Dave

I can’t decide whether this demo has the best or the worst title I’ve ever seen, since there’s something irresistible about it that at once makes me smile and annoys the crap out of me. It’s a question that runs throughout the four tracks on ‘We Went…’ because it’s all old school punk in the vein of The Descendents and (very, very early) Green Day, but executed with a disdain and almost a laziness that grates after a while.

With the horrendously predictable lyrics to ‘You’re Not A Punk’ and repetition of the same riff for almost three minutes, things don’t start well at all. As with ‘The Pub Song’ you get the impression that Leg-End X are playing for themselves and couldn’t give a toss whether or not you get the joke or whether or not you like your vocals sung in tune. Juddering rhythms never let ‘The Pub Song’ really kick in because it relies on familiar chord sequences and excruciating rhymes that don’t really move beyond the striking observation that “I went down to the pub today, there’s beer to drink and pool to play” which is the equivalent of saying “I went to the chippy, there are chips there.” Not exactly fascinating, but is it on the same literary level as “Mug mug mug”?

‘Birth of a Vigilante/Billy Song’ is the best track on the demo by far because it’s the only moment where you sense that Leg-End X are straying from novelty songs or playing for cheap gags. With a funky riff and strong guitar solo, the intensity of the vocals is impressive for once, with no trace of the nasal whine that populates the other tracks. It’s quite dark in tone and suggests that the band would be best advised sticking to heavier songs that don’t sound as if they were written by a pre-teen.

Rounding things off is a Darkness cover, cleverly bastardised to be “I Believe in a Soap Called Dove” which is, as you might imagine, a song about having spots sung in a eunuch-impressing falsetto that’s only fairly amusing the first time. As a demo, ‘We Went…’ isn’t exactly impressive in that it seems as if Leg-End X don’t care if you like it. Novelty songs aren’t funny except to the inner circle of people who actually get the joke, and while one might be mildly amusing, having three-quarters of a demo composed of them is just pointless.

Ben