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You feel like a bastard slagging off groups like this. Tonight, Joseph's Well is literally rammed with Dead Pets fans. None of whom, scarily, seem to be over 15 years old. The group have, they proudly announce, been on a 53-date tour and this is their triumphant homecoming.
It should be a great night out. It isn't. For the sad truth is (and this feels a bit like telling your kid brother that Santa doesn't exist) that the Dead Pets actually aren't very good. Initially, their sheer energy in songs like "If It Sells, It Sells" draws you in but the longer their set goes on the more painfully obvious their limitations become. Not least of which is that, for all their energy, they really do struggle to come up with anything even vaguely resembling a memorable tune. Which, let's face it, is a common disease among the ska-punk fraternity. The Rancid-esque between-song banter which seems to go on for ages also gets increasingly irritating as the set goes on and you're worried it's about to descend into cabaret any second as you feel the urge to shout "For fuck's sake, just PLAY SOME TUNES WILL YER!"
Quite simply, this is basically attitude-free punk which totally defeats the point in my opinion (see also the Offspring, Spunge et al). Someone badly needs to get these guys some stuff by groups like SLF and the Ruts to show just how effective this sort of thing could be if they could only be arsed to do it right.
Triumphant homecoming? Bah, humbug.
Reviewed by Andy James
