I went along to Hull's Adelphi Club to another of the excellent Under The Influence promoted shows expecting to see a bit of a Blueskins' clone in headliners THE ORDINARY BOYS, or that is what I thought after hearing their debut single Maybe Someday. What I got was a bit of a mini Mod revival, complete with a Fred Perry shirt wearing bass player and a Bruce Foxton look-a-like (hairstyle wise anyway) on lead vocals and rhythm guitar.
Musically The Ordinary Boys produce a high energy rock'n'roll noise that was tight and tuneful and mixed elements of The Jam and The Stereophonics very nicely, there is not a lot more to say really, stripped down guitar driven songs, lively performance and a band who looked like they where really enjoying themselves despite the heat on stage. Infact by the end of their set, which started off a bit flat but built into a crescendo, they were playing a cover of Deee-lite's 'Groove Is In The Heart'! On stage the band come across a bit like a slightly dodgy cousin/friend/associate who you might have a few beers and a laugh with once in a while but know if you hung around with them more you would get into trouble but do not all the best bands have that slight (or not so slight!) air of danger?
If The Ordinary Boys where a dodgy cousin then three peice support band THE HIDEAWAYS are your slightly unhinged uncle, thunderous bass playing, tight drumming and the guitar mixed quite low made for an interesting sound and they even chuck in harmony backing vocals. I believe they have previously been called Mower and they still had some t-shirts to sell with that name, by the end of their set I was thinking they could do with a bit more variety but they managed to not outstay their welcome.
Opening act Hull's APPLEWHITES tried hard but with a nasty guitar sound, woolly bass and sloppy time keeping their more interesting musical ideas got a bit buried, they did receive a polite reception from the crowd and could well be a band to look out for in the future if they continue to polish up their performance and expand on their music ideas.
All in all this was another excellent show organised by local Hull promoter Dean Shakespeare under the Under The Influence banner and I am already looking forward to catching The Ordinary Boys again as they are easily as good live as anything else I have seen this year.
Review by Darren Bunting