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Nine people, bad make-up, Croydon, frighteningly powerful vocals, sequins and dirty guitars don’t really equate to a good rock band on paper. Funnelling all of these elements into an LP probably makes for what dirt might sound like. But Do Me Bad Things have somehow managed to create a fantastically fun and rocky album despite these, erm, characteristics.
With their debut Album ‘Yes!’ this oddball South London collective have encapsulated the glam of David Bowie, the fun of The Darkness and the funk of Jamiroquai. It blends loud guitar riffs with electronica, smooth R’n’B and operatic vocals.
With eight potential vocalists in the band, the dynamic shifts almost constantly from track to track due to the persistent change of voice and style. The histrionic vocals on almost every track are impressive and never seem too much to take but when the album dips in to R’n’B mode, it starts to feel flat against the bombast and drama of the of the remainder of the album. Although the R’n’B elements are sexy, funky and well executed, their true colours emerge in the big rock/metal numbers like current single ‘What’s Hideous’ and ‘Time for Deliverance’, which, at times, sounds like Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Come to think of it, that about sums up their look too. ‘Hold On’, which is so catchy it could be a potential single, is kind of like a diet-version of themselves. It seems slightly insipid as a close to this big showy bitch of an album but would sound great on radio.
The worst track is 'The Daily Grind'. It’s got scary James Hetfield style vocals which just aren’t nice to listen to and are contrasted with sweet, girly replies that seem totally lost against the terrifying doom of the male singer.
Aside from that slight blip, this is a blinder of a debut which is loud, impressive, sometimes sexy and most of all, fun. Because they are fun, I worry that DMBT may get labelled a joke band like their label-mates The Darkness, but there is nothing laughable about this album, it’s serious rock all the way.
