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Eastern Lane
by Ross Bennett
With the release of ‘Room on Fire’ re-affirming the place of muddy guitar dirges in 2004, you would have thought young, four-piece Eastern Lane would fit in very well, and you’d be right. Crackling guitar chops, drums seemingly on loop throughout the entire set, affected aloof nonsense, and about two songs to their name. This is very, very tiring. I’m all for a band looking and sounding like a band, but when both the sound and the look do nothing to inspire, energise, or even turn ninety percent of the crowd away from the bar, the overall projection leaves nothing but impatience for the last chord to be Stroked.
Lead vocalist/guitarist Derek Meins displays some interest in frenetic warbling during former single ‘Feed your Addiction’ but it turns out to be short lived, as the rest of the tunes dissolve into nothingness seconds after they’ve begun. Any smattering of urgency that might raise these songs above the standard garage drone is visually and sonically absent. Of course, they are very young - all under 20 apparently, so there is time for Eastern Lane to move forward. Let’s just hope that the direction they decide to take is not as lacking in essence as tonight’s gig definitely suggests.
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Eastern Lane
Being from Berwick I've managed to see Eastern Lane a few times over the last few years and to be honest there are better bands around Berwick. All credit to them getting signed and all, but despite the fact they have improved musically they still have no presence on stage and are ultimately a tad boring. Your attention to them wavers after a while and before long they are merely background music. NME love them so I'm sure they will only get bigger and hopfully they will start to write material that justifies the hype NME has placed on them-
Re: Eastern Lane
I'm also from Berwick, but I havent seen Eastern Lane yet. I cant see how any band from berwick can compare to them.....all the berwick bands I have seen are, well just little boys with guitars, with the exception of a few. Also, when I listened to the album the first time, I did find it bland, but when I continued to listen to it, I fell in love with it. I just think that if the likes of Steve Lamaque and Zane Lowe like them, and they managed to get onto the same record label as the strokes, and also NME support them, then they must be worth listening to, and they are yet young. Give them a chance, how many other bands do we get emerging from berwick eh?!-
Re: Eastern Lane
THERE'S MORE THAN ONE BAND FROM BERWICK?!?!-
Re: Eastern Lane
your right
there is more than one band from berwick
and i bet theyre better than eastern lane-
Re: Eastern Lane
lets face it
eastern lane got lucky when they were signed.
when they got signed there was a better band around at the time - Zane
they were far better than EL
theyve since split but ive heard good things about the Scheme
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Re: Eastern Lane
errr, i think feed your addiction and saffron justify the hype alone, and have you heard holy arms? absolutely majestic, better bands in berwick? i would be happy to listen to any nominees.
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