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 Breaking away from the stigma attached to
your old band in an attempt to have equal success with your new band has
always proved to be a difficult task for most rock stars. Unless of
course, you happen to be Dave Grohl, which, let’s face it, not many
people are.
Wes Borland couldn’t escape the lure of Limp Bizkit, Wigan boy Richard
Ashcroft will probably always carry the “Ex ‘Verve frontman” tag, and
Tom Delonge will undoubtedly have trouble shedding his Blink 182 skin
when Angels & Airwaves eventually take to the, erm...airwaves.
Such was the plight of ex-Busted lad Charlie Simpson, who in his quest
for credibility and the chance to exchange his fluffy pop-star image for
genuine rock star status with screamo newbies Fightstar was met anger
from his loyal fanbase and dismissal from a scene that didn’t actually
want him.
Yet these problems are unlikely to plague Charlie-boy’s former cohort,
James “The Talented One” Bourne who, with his new project Son of Dork,
seems to have rounded up a group of guitar-toting emo boys to give him a
hand in updating the Busted blue-prints for Green Day fans.
Indeed, from the moment you pop this disc into your CD player, any
premonitions you may have had about Son of Dork seem to ring true. Lead
single “Ticket Outta Loserville” sets the precedent for an album chock
full of tunes that are about as original and interesting as cheese &
tomato pizza. However, as unoriginal as they maybe, they also share
another thing in common with cheese & tomato pizza in that they’re
actually both quite tasty.
Pick up anything by The Starting Line, Simple Plan or New Found Glory
and no doubt you’ll find something pretty much almost identical. Yet if
you’re a fan of these bands, or indeed of Busted and/or Mcfly, then
chances are that you’ll easily enjoy this LP.
The likes of “Eddie’s Song” and “Slacker” take some standard power pop
hooks, twinkling emo-lite rhythms and sparkly melodies, and drench them
in a vibrant splash of pseudo-Americana to create the sort of pop-punk
by numbers template that made their peers on the other side of the
Atlantic so successful.
Though Son of Dork have drawn criticism for being, or rather acting ‘too
American’, this could clearly work for the band rather than against
them. One look at the size of the crowds drawn to the US Vans Warped
Tour, where their American counterparts can usually be found plying
their trade through the summer, will prove that Bourne & Co. are clearly
on to something.
And that ‘something’ is an assortment of catchy, playful pop songs that
although re-work a trite old formula, still burst with energy and
enthusiasm, never pretending to be anything other than a good, fun band.
Where this album really stands out though, above all the whimping
guitars and mountain of pop-punk stock, is with the lyrics. Like the
rest of “Welcome to Loserville”, there’s nothing complicated about this
album, and fans of the latter day, introspective & politically-minded
work of Green Day and Blink 182 will probably view this album as a step
five-years back in the wrong direction. Yet again, if you happened to
enjoy Busted’s lyrical approach, then rejoice, as Bourne’s
simple-yet-straightforward modus operandi is still very much inplace.
Whilst the usual songs about girls and messed up relationships are all
in check, “Welcome to Loserville” offers us something more. This,
essentially, is James Bourne’s response to the critical beating his
credibility took with the aforementioned erstwhile pop-group, and with
standout track “Boyband”, he delivers his cynical, witty and
tongue-in-cheek view of the whole thing.
Yet there’s more too it than just having a quick jab, and as odd as it
seems to be saying this about a silly pop-punk record, the message in
this album runs deeper, brilliantly concluding in the excellent “Murders
in the Mosh”.
“Welcome to Loserville” is a cry to people everywhere to do what you
like and be who you are, not what fashion, scenes and trends say you
should be. Don’t pretend to like Jane’s Addiction or Sonic Youth in
attempt to be cooler. If you’re into boy bands, that’s nothing to be
ashamed of.
And this album, whilst mainly appealing to those fans, is certainly
nothing to be ashamed of either.
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