Smoketrader - Too Late/ Smokin'/Right Time

Boybands are a strange commodity, writes Andrew Richards

Part asexual Aryan e-fits, part air, part water and part make-ups of every demographic ever displayed at an ad meeting. Why they exist, no one knows, why they profit so hugely, also is a hideous mystery. But they do walk the earth and hang around like some unholy Chris De Burgh/ George Benson/Abba monster.

Smoketrader have definitely taken this route, but with a few variations. First, they try to rock. But the same way N'Sync try to rawk! Second, they try to do it funky style just like Britney Spears. Thirdly, they go electronic, yes, a bit like Cher on Do You Believe. Plus they have played cruise ships and top private functions in London' ie someone's wedding. But, before you turn the page, the Surrey-based band are not as bad as all that, honest. Dan Tracy (vocals/sax), Alex Gayle (guitar), David Knight (drums), Barny Livermoore (lead guitar) and Andy Lissamore (bass) may sound like a bad episode of Popstars, but they do have something.

Unfortunately, it's not a million miles away from the sort of sound the Boyzones and Fives pump out like toxic fumes.

Too Late, the first track, is definitely of this vein, but has a competence and a bounce to it that doesn't make it completely awful. Tracy has a good set of lungs and the rest pull the song together nicely enough.

But I'm over 12, so it means nothing to me.

The next track Smokin' starts off well. A tidy mix of Issac Hayes and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but as a kind of dinner party funk to it that many men of middle management would call edgy'. Right Time is a far better song, a soft rock love ballad, but not that sickening.

Smoketrader have picked an image that's contradictory and instantly cancels itself out.

The idea of boybands/ girlbands, manufactured bits of fluff dictated by large record companies and consumer profiles, doesn't sit well with the idea of rock or funk, or anything with the a tint of soul.

The band sound professional enough and can bang a good tune for a Cruise ship, but they might fall through the cracks of non easily categorised' when it comes to the big boyband sorting office.

They'll probably still hit the top five though.

December 3, 2001 13:00