MUDKISS FANZINE

Vincent and the Onepotts – Devils Eye (Voodoo 13 Records)

Here’s a band with a silly name. But ‘silly’ is relative and not always a bad thing – it’s not a handle that contains a toe curling pun, so that tells us we’re dealing with a band that most likely doesn’t take themselves too seriously, yet also isn’t secretly wanting to be considered smart. It’s probably some kind of private joke, and anyway – I like Flux of Pink Indians, so let’s not get bogged down in the nomenclature.

Led by vocalist/guitarist ex-Pigfish wallah, ‘The Reverend’ Vincent Onepott (there seems to be an awful lot of clergy taking up rock’n’roll recently), the Onepotts are a quartet that also includes Kev Blunt, late of the Blunts, on bass, Vincent’s former Pigfish bandmate Henderson, and former Drongos For Europe guitarist, Anton. The band congealed in its present form late last summer, and this is their debut.

Currently unsigned and looking for a label deal, the group have made a decent fist of self-releasing Devil’s Eye. Their press release cites The Clash among their influences, which is always a worry, given that there’s always the chance that such source material might result in an Alarm style melange of vapid, anthemic drivel, or worse still, U2’s very literal emphasis on the phrase, ‘turning rebellion into money’.

Fortunately, this is not the case with the Onepotts. They’re not gonna change the system, but that’s not the point here. It’s not that sort of punk. Although a Strummer-esque influence is evident on tracks such as ‘One For The Good Guys’ – which features a vocal interplay a la ‘Safe European Home’ – the bulk of this set is pitched between another of the quartet’s cited influences, the Wildhearts, and a tougher, non-parping, Less Than Jake.

Such provenance is not immediately obvious from the disc’s eponymous opening track, which sets the tone for much of the chugging-yet-catchy punk-o-matic riffola that is to follow, but – perhaps due to the spag-western guitar phrasing, brings to mind the Lords of the New Church. In fact, a persistent Duane Eddy-meets-Ennio Morricone motif resurfaces several times throughout the album, and is possibly – along with a lopsided mix that obfuscates the bass until the ninth track, ‘Truth vs. Reality’ – the only downsides to what is, on the whole, an enjoyable romp.

Despite the band’s assertion of folk and rockabilly leanings, these only surface intermittently – on ‘Razor’s Edge’ and within the final two tracks, ‘Rockin With Jaysus’ – a slice of Horton heat style silliness – and the valedictory, acoustic ‘Forgotten Friends’. Aside from these, the rest of the LP is comprised of unpretentious, heads down, punky fun.

Aside from the aforementioned ‘One For the Good Guys’, Devil’s Eye’s other standout track is ‘Radio Summer’, a track that pays tribute to the Ramones, and kicks off a trio of tracks that are strongly reminiscent of the underrated Less Than Jake. Although, ‘Radio Summer’ turns into something more closely resembling Motörhead once the solo kicks in, the following two tracks ‘Five Days. Six Hours, Nine Minutes’ (which even sounds like a LTJ song title) and ‘The Big Escape’ continue to demonstrate the kind of engaging tempo changes also employed by Gainesville’s finest. The subsequent ‘Truth vs. Reality’ sees the band getting out the sledgehammers for a harder sound that also suits them.

The Wildeharts’ influence is underlined by ‘Drinkin’ With Danny’, which appears to pay homage to the Geordie hellraisers’ Danny McCormack, while evoking the vocal stylings of Shane McGowan – on to bang the pint-pots on the table to. The following track ‘Adrenaline’ storms in like Ginger’s firm and is a paen to the excitement of gigging.

The Onepotts are technically proficient and give every indication of having the chops to be a lot of fun live. The album comes out on 14 March and the band will be touring behind it from early that month – keep an eye on their page at www.myspace.com/vincentandtheonepotts if you’re in the mood for a fling.

www.vincentandtheonepotts.co.uk