Underdogs & The Bergeracs @ The 12 Bar

The past few years has seen a young local indie rock band blagging and pestering their way around local venues, failing to set the world alight, but always adamant they have something to offer. Last Thursday saw Underdogs continue a recent overhaul of popular public opinion by playing their most convincing Preston show to date, supporting The Baker Street Irregulars along with The Bergeracs at The 12 Bar.

It is immediately evident that Underdogs are moving forward from their opening number, an upbeat jive where the vocal hints at the snappy, chatty style of Johnny Rotten mixed with the deep colloquialisms of Julian Casablancas. Second song Supernova is faster and more punk-fuelled than the recorded version and morphs into a well crafted New Beginning.

Untamed

Musically the band are getting tighter and more mature, but some of the older songs included in the performance suffer at the hands of the singer. The vocals throughout the set oscillate from showing great potential to sounding nervous and untamed, singer Phil Moss failing to project his voice enough for the big choruses.

The middle of the set was dogged by feedback and mic problems but the sound comes back into life with Tuesday Night and Boy In The Window which are performed so comfortably you cannot help but see these as their trademark songs.

The newer songs are a marked improvement on the back catalogue, and seem written with the vocals in mind as it sounds a great deal better, the last song in particular, includes a Cobain-like growl that makes you wonder, 'where the hell has that been for the past half hour?'

Improvement

Underdogs are not the finished article, in fact far from it, but if you went to see them this time last year, you'll know have far they have come since - and if they make a similar improvement in time for next year.. then who knows.

One thing crosses your mind as soon as The Bergeracs begin..The Libertines - through and through. A very similar image and identical sound that could make them a lot of money as a cover band.

As the set goes on some of the songs and lyrics sound like they could develop into very promising numbers, as the Tom Chaplin-alike lead singer faintly sings 'by the time that you turn round, you'll be six foot underground.'

Success

The Bergeracs strangely endear themselves to their audience, not only due to their musical similarities (The Clash, The Coral, The Smiths etc) but because of just how genuinely and badly the singer seems to want it and mean it more than his band mates, although the drummer clearly has a lot to offer.

The main problem presented to The Bergeracs is that their genre's wheel may have already turned, and comparisons with recent success stories are far too easy. They know what they want and their cards are on the table, but only when they have sanded down the songs and image into a package strong enough to match the desire can they set about joining the punk revival.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy

Photography: Dan Jeoffroy