I never, ever get the chance to listen and review submissions within three days, but I just had to with this one. Why, I hear you ask? Well, here’s the thing. There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. There’s nothing wrong with believing in yourself and there’s no reason why, within reason, you can’t tell people if you think you’re good. But if you pass that arrogance line you end up in delusion territory – and that’s where Waiting For Katherine find themselves. Here are a few sample lines from their own biography:
“Waiting for Katherine, from St. Albans, UK have surprised a lot of people with the quality of songs we are producing, leaving them walking round all day humming our original and hugely enjoyable tunes.”
“The quality of songwriting stands out so far ahead of so many acts of this style – a play of any of our songs will instantly demonstrate that.”
“this four piece has originality and a great sense of humour!!”
I’ll be honest, after reading that I really did expect the second coming of Christ, so I did something I never, ever do – put a demo on as soon as I received it. And then it played, and I thought ‘hang fire, is this the same band described in the press release’? The simple fact is that WFK really aren’t that great. They’re far from original, the songwriting style is basic beyond belief and I couldn’t find a single chorus, let alone a catchy one!
The band’s “humour” stretches about as far as a Blink 182 tribute act. ‘My Mate Facies You!’ about says it all, a tale of how…yeah, I don’t need to explain it. But it’s not particularly funny or catchy. The band’s very British vocals sound a little forced…maybe that’s the natural way they sing, but it sounds like they’re trying way too hard. And the chorus gang-chant of “sliced bread” is just cringe-worthy. Things get worse with the awful, awful ‘Stony Silence’ which is an attempt at some kind of ballad but just doesn’t work at all. The lyrics are dire, the vocals sound depressing and turgid…it’s just crap.
Truth is, Waiting For Katherine are no better than the myriad of local bands – except most of the others show a bit of humility…