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Did I just walk into a school disco? I’ve never seen so many 16 year old girls in one place at once. The teeny-boppers have packed out the Underworld tonight to catch a glimpse of ‘that fella from Busted’ and his rock outfit Fightstar.
So first of all to the centre of attention; sporting a My Chemical Romance t-shirt, Charlie Simpson is surprisingly coy for someone who’s used to selling out Wembley with his other band. There’s almost a sense of shame about him that there should be a dominance of Busted fans here; returning their screams with a particularly curt “I’m not taking off my fucking shirt”. Simpson has made it clear in many interviews that he wants this band treated as a separate project, and one to be taken seriously in the rock circles. Mercifully, this time he’s not forgotten to make sure the tunes are pretty damn good.
‘Speak Up’ is a storming and surprisingly heavy opener, juxtaposed with the understated atmospherics of ‘Tears In The Rain’. A bout of tonsillitis has left their second frontman Alex Westway sounding more than a little Dinosaur Jr’s 'J. Mascis' tonight. But this doesn’t detract from the anthemic ‘Amethyst’ (dedicated to all the loyal fans in their forum). Throw in some call-and-response vocals, a fair few screams, and it’s suddenly clear the comparisons with Biffy Clyro aren’t entirely unfair. But Fightstar are smoother, more melodic and definitely far more commercial than those hairy noisters. Slick grunge rockers with Cobain’s sense of dynamic, they sound a little like Bush trying to write an old-school Radiohead tune whilst receiving a savage beating from Soundgarden. So far so good, but then suddenly it’s all cut short. Tonight Fightstar won’t be pushing the curfew; perhaps since most of their audience have to be in bed by eleven.
The mainstream rock press have pretty much ignored them so far, but the release of an EP next year will no doubt change that. It would be all too obvious to write Fightstar off, and to label them as Simpson’s failed attempt to regain credibility from Busted’s numerous crimes against music. Fortunately, they make that point irrelevant by tearing out their indie-grunge hybrid with all the roaring enthusiasm of a band that truly has something to prove.
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