"Modern" guitar music should die. The last 12 months have seen rock n roll return to its roots: The Hives, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Strokes (contentious, i know ..) and Trail of Dead and everything points towards a continuation of the trend: The Hellhounds, The Mooney Suzuki, The Parkinsons etc.
Beyond this movement there are only a handful of guitar wielding bands who shouldn't feel truly ashamed of themselves. The best guitar records have become utterly devoid of affectation: not so Muse. Surely no-one could have predicted that the one-time Radiohead plagiarists would become pioneers of sophisticated rawk. The band that the nu-metal kids who feel adventurous plump for. Their vulgar new single churns the stomach.

But hey, this isn't a Muse diatribe. Sadly, though, our garage-rock revolution isn't getting off to a good start when The Candys grace us with their presence. They're King Adora with a 2nd-rate singer, 3rd-rate tunes and a mullet. Oh, and a girl-bassist who looks disinterested and a singer who's nowhere near as cool as he likes to think he is. Not that they're particularly poor. Just a bit pointless and a few years too late.

The 2nd band allegeldy weren't the Fat Truckers. Their bassist wore angel wings and had questionable facial hair. Their songs: a load of predictable indie-schmindie bollocks. I don't have a clue who they were, but I'd have soon forgotten anyway.

Hoggboy are rough and ready. Leather clad and be-afroed. They attack their breed of rock n roll with top class tunesmithery and retro cool through clouds of cigarette smoke. The Strokes are flying away and Hoggboy are clinging to their shirt tails.
It's just a little sad that the Scene With No Name has propelled them into the limelight before they're ready. Perhaps if they'd had a year to write some songs to back themselves up then POW! It'd have been a rock n roll revolution right before your eyes. Sadly, though, despite the low-slung dirty fuck-off-and-die rock n roll godliness off 'Hey Mama' and 'So Young' most of tonight's set sounds like New York's answer to Crashland. The truly great bands are those that can strike a balance between style and substance. Hoggboy should go away and come back when they've learnt how to rock it with better tunes.