This July

This July @ Barfly
07th September 2005

When I walked into Barfly to see This July they were already on stage...standing as though looking for someone to tell them what to do, not a good sign. These guys have only been together just over a year, so of course they are going to lack a bit in confidence. But once they got going they started to loosen up a wee bit.... Until one of their mates in the crowd started jeering them on shouting "This July... This July", and boy were they pissed at that. Now they could have used this to their advantage and got a bit of a routine going with their eager little buddy and got the crowd on their side, but by the time they were onto their 3rd track they didn’t need to as the crowd were quite pleased by what This July had to offer anyway.

I can’t compare these guys to any other bands but I can say they were teen rock, which was a good thing, because the average age of the audience that night was about 15, and this seemed to be their cup of tea. It wasn’t mine, but I do appreciate talent and determination and what these guys lacked in confidence and stage presence they made up for with some gritty guitar riffs, funky wee bass lines and at times complicated drum patterns.

The thing that I think let the band down were the vocals, they were pretty weak. Now this might have been down to nerves again, but these guys do need to get a bit more experience under their belts, and maybe after a few more gigs...we might just have a really decent band on our hands.

As it stands, these guys are better as a recorded band, so go have a wee listen to some of the tracks uploaded at www.myspace.com/thisjuly and see what you think for yourself.

(Gill Brammer)