Something tells me that if Miss Conduct were fronted by a man, they wouldn’t be signed to Visible Noise and they wouldn’t get the publicity I guarantee they’ll be getting in 6 months time. As Hayley Paramore has become a starlet in her own right, it was only a matter of time before labels looked for another young lady fronting a rock band, so step forward Kim Waterstone, who has the look and sound to take Miss Conduct from CD to Kerrang’s poster special in the quick flicker of an eyelash.
And maybe it’s just the cynic in me, but while the music isn’t bad at all, it’s not as good as Paramore and not as sassy as Hole. It’s passable, but not the next-big-thing the band will probably be hyped as. This mini-album didn’t come with a tracklisting so I can’t name names, but tracks 1 and 4 stand out as chunky, melodic pop songs wrapped up in crunchy guitars. There’s a sassy, confident quality in the vocals that you’d expect from this type of music – it’s more brash than Paramore – an obvious comparison – yet similar in delivery. The crunch will be whether the band can pull it off in a live setting and really earn their spurs. And while that remains to be seen, ‘Sinner vs Sinned’ is a record that will shoot Ms Waterson and co up the ladder; I’m just not convinced if the band have it in them to sustain that.