Think of bands from Leicester and your first though will likely turn to the Soccer AM soundtracking of Kasabian. Maybe even the mid-Nineties R&B of biannually jailed Mark Morrison. This is perhaps unfair though, for Leicester - with the likes of Maybeshewill, Her Name Is Calla, Kyte and Minnaars - has tapped a seam of rather excellent bands in the last few years.
"I want you to get up right now, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
So says news anchor Howard Beale in Network, a quote Maybeshewill have sampled in the crushing climax of ‘Not For the Want Of Trying’. A quote that seems to inform the whole band and their dissatisfaction with the state of the world. There is no getting away for it, Maybeshewill are angry, but what with being an instrumental act, it is left to the music to put this across punctured sparingly by electronics and sampled dialogue.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. For all the anger shown, it is perhaps the more orchestral or tender moments which make the band special. The piano on ‘He Films The Clouds Pt 2’ contrasting with blips and beeps of the triggered electronics. Fans of 65daysofstatic will find much to like here, but they stand up in their own right as being a band worth taking notice of.
By John Wilkes
Maybeshewill play the Wilmington Arms TONIGHT, 14th October. Tickets £6.
