Viva Brother: Famous First Words

Viva Brother
Famous First Words
Rating: Jeez Lady

The UK is well-known for acts that are all swagger and attitude, throwing quotes around that would bury most people. I don't mind attitude when the bands have the music to back it up; like The Smiths, Blur, Pulp, and Suede. It is where a bad is all attitude and no substance that I take issue. Latest UK buzz band Viva Brother flew out of the gate, proclaiming themselves the "best band in the world," snagging Smiths producer Stephen Street for production duties on their debut, and stating that they were there to rescue guitar music. Debut album Famous First Words is surely not going to be remembered as the album that jump starts the music world. The album clearly finds the band as a comfortable facsimile of better bands, notably Oasis (in their early prime), Suede, and significantly Blur. It is all arena-ready, hook heavy, everything turned up to 10 rock and roll, that is brilliant in its banality, yet utterly forgettable once it runs through its 10 songs.

I will start with the good stuff first. First single and what got them their record deal in the first place "Darling Buds of May," is Blur/Oasis swagger, goofy sing-a-long chorus, and chiming guitars. Based on this song alone, I can understand why they were sought out; had the album been like this song, a little more quirky and less blueprinted, it would have made for a more compelling listen.



"False Alarm" is another Oasis-like track that has a little more bite to it, with a killer chorus.



But too often, Viva Brother coast on auto-pilot, coming across as a mere cover band of their influences. "Electric Daydream" is an almost laughable rote reworking of "Champagne Supernova."



And most of the other songs are just serviceable guitar pop, so bland and impeccably boring as to become the equivalent of aural wallpaper. "New Year's Day" is a perfect example. There is nothing particularly bad about the song, it has just been done over and over again, and much better.



The first half of the album is a blur (no pun intended) of the same song structure that is dizzying, and difficult sometimes to tell when one song had ended and the next one began. After the third over-the-top chorus, I was almost beaten into submission. "Still Here," "David" and "High Street Low Lives" feel like an assembly line set of songs.

Viva Brother frustrate me because clearly they know how to play music, and on paper they have all the right goods to be a great band. Unfortunately, they don't do more than do high production karaoke of better, more important bands. Less slavish adherence to sounding like others would benefit this band better in the future. For now though, they are destined to be just another band hyped to death and then thrown in the dustbin.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.