Whisperin and Hollerin
When British rock began its miraculous recovery after several years of bland generic pop, young bands began to sprout of every pore of Britain. A lot of them sounded much the same trying to follow in the footsteps of indie favourites Travis or the chart friendly pseudo-punk of Feeder (bless them). Then came the Darkness, not taking themselves too seriously, but, inexplicably, ending up becoming massive on both sides of the Atlantic. However with the similar and, in my personal opinion, predictable guitar solos in most of their songs, The Darkness have become a bit of an unwelcome familiarity.
But out of the shores of deepest Southend (if there is such a place), come 4ft Pimp, a quintet of very unique individuals who, like the Darkness, do not take themselves seriously but they do take their music incredibly seriously. To put it somewhat simply and bluntly, 4ft Pimp love to rock. This is very apparent in this, their second self-released EP, Freudian Slip.
The CD opens with the song 'To and Fro', and is a nice introduction to the EP. We continue with 'Worst Crime Known', which, lyrically, makes me wonder how vocalist Greg Kiss's stability is holding up! One of the best parts of this song, for me, is the introduction with a quick bass part by Andrew Moore.
What follows is 'Shotgun Paradise', which is nice little tale of a shop owner being held at gun point, but the tables are turned when the shop owner gets his own shotgun. The combination of Nick Durant's guitar solo and Liam Ambrose's incredible drumming really makes this song in my opinion. In the next song in particular, 'Heaven's Scent', the guitar solos have a distinct 80's feel to them with the Pimp's influences showing through. 'Hungry?' is the next song and is a nice little track.
As the final song, Fear Of the Unknown kicks in, it is clear that this song would be perfect to release as a single because it seems to be a song that is tailor made for the airwaves. I am sure that they didn't design it to sound like that, but it is really that good and is my personal favourite on the EP.
So, there you have it, an EP that shows that Southend is not just an Essex seaside resort with a bloody long pier. So after dissecting them for a good 500 words it is clear that 4ft Pimp are an incredibly talented band, and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if they became very big, very quickly.
Simon Bitensky