Shooting At Unarmed Men - 'Soon There Will Be...' (Too Pure) Released 31/10/05

Many a tear was shed by indie kids all over the country when Mclusky announced their split in January this year.  They can cheer up now though - the band’s former bassist Jon Chapple has wasted no time in coming to dry their eyes by way of this debut from his other band, Shooting At Unarmed Men. 

On with the inevitable comparisons to the Welsh trio then… the Albini family tree is obviously still a great influence here, but it’s less Shellac, more Slint if they played pop songs – something which is likely to annoy Mclusky die-hards. There’s none of their stripping-flesh-from-the-bone power, and the trademark breezeblock bass is conspicuous only by its absence. Judged on its own merits however, ‘Soon There Will Be…’ seems to have all the ingredients of a cult classic. Scratchy, trebly guitar noises? Yep. Bleeding-throat vocals? Yep. Layers of off-kilter melody? Yep. But what about the overwhelming sense of disappointment, and the feeling that this could have been so much more? A definite “yep”.

Shooting At Unarmed Men have been together in some form or other since 1999 - you’d think even the least prolific of bands could write more than a handful of decent songs in six years.  And while no one expected an easy-listening record from the man responsible for “Lightsaber Cocksucking Blues”, closing track ‘The Accidental Drummer” is a genuinely unlistenable contender for worst track of the year.  It tries to be an avant-garde noisefest, but ends up sounding like Big Black’s tourbus crashing.

The few songs that do stand repeat listenings however show just what might have been. ‘Four-Eyed McClayvie” sounds like an early Blur, with all that fey art-school charm replaced by hooligan-chic and the subtlety of a brick through a window.  There are great titles (‘There’s A Reason It’s Called The Easy Way Out’), and ‘The Pink Ink’ is the world’s most incomprehensible football chant crammed into 120 seconds of genius. This would have made a great EP, but for the moment all those indie kids had better hang on to their Kleenex.