Repomen - Lights Out / She's In Love
by John Clarkson
published: 17 / 12 / 2001
Label:
Repomen
Format: CDS
intro
The Repomen have been playing together for over a decade now. The group, which features in its current line-up Denzil Watson on vocals ; Ric Bower on guitar and occasional keyboards ; Simon Tiller on
The Repomen have been playing together for over a decade now. The group, which features in its current line-up Denzil Watson on vocals ; Ric Bower on guitar and occasional keyboards ; Simon Tiller on bass and James “Yozza” Hughes on drums, first formed in Sheffield in 1990, then split up at the end of 1992, before reforming again four years later in the latter part of 1996. The Repomen have played prestigious support slots with The Cranberries, Strange Sky Exit and The Solarflares, and also have a strong home town following, but, since they recorded two three track cassettes ‘Burst’ and ‘Omen’ in the early nineties, have never until now had the opportunity to record anything else. ‘Lights Out/She’s in Love’, which the group has self-produced , is both their debut CD EP release, and also their first recording in eight years. The EP, which the band describes as “double A-sided”, and which also features two live, acoustic numbers ‘TakeAway’ and ‘It’s So Easy’, starts convincingly with ‘Lights Out’. It is a well-crafted and reflective piece of early eighties influenced new wave nostalgia that meshes together an Orange Juice style jangling guitar line against a clipped, echoing bass riff. The EP’s second track ‘She’s in Love’ is, however, more abrasive in tone and is splendidly reminiscent of The Buzzcocks with its tantruming guitars and jagged melody. Telling of unrequited love, Watson’s sneered vocals carry a bittersweet sense of irony and their last line has an unexpected twist in its tale. The Repomen have, however, saved their best trick until last, and ‘TakeAway’ and ‘It’s So Easy’ finds the band not only changing direction, but also instruments. Watson remains on vocals, but Tiller has now swopped to double bass and Hughes and Bower have switched to acoustic guitar duties. ‘Takeaway’, a rustic and bluesy-sounding ballad, upon which the versatile Bower also appears playing the harmonica and the tin whistle, is a paean to a lost love, and shows the band at their most bruised and vulnerable. ‘It’s So Easy’ meanwhile is a tense, angst-ridden ode to uncertainty that has a world-weary vocal from Watson and which brings the EP to a melancholic, but powerful close. These are strong songs, written by a band not frightened to experiment and to be different. With songs as tightly written and as well composed as these four, let’s hope that it is only a matter of time, and not another eight years, before The Repomen get back into the studio. More information about The Repomen can be found at their website www.geocities.com/repomenuk
Track Listing:-
1 Lights Out2 She's In Love
3 TakeAway
4 Its So Easy
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/RepoMenbandhttps://repomen.bandcamp.com/
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5z7bDTMKxk4PwNtSsdocX1?si=01dd77dd0c
Visitor Comments:- |
38 Posted By: Richard.mather@bt.com, London on 01 Jan 1900 |
Heard them on Steve Lamacq's session unsigned page and Lights Out sounds great - very 80's but very mean and moody. 'She's in love' is a great punky song no flab just two minutes of Buzzcocksesque pop. Great.
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37 Posted By: Steve Hodgson, Cambridge on 01 Jan 1900 |
Yeah, completely unheard of band - and there's so many of them on the web at the moment - but got lucky with this one -lots of energy and raw talent and good songs behind it all - can see the Buzzcocks reference on 'She's in love'.
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interviews |
Interview (2015) |
John Clarkson speaks to Denzil Watson, the front man with durable Sheffield indie act RepoMen about 'Occasional Sensations', which is a documentary film about them, and their recent album, ‘I’m Only Doing This Because I Like Your Robot’ |
Interview (2011) |
Interview (2004) |
Interview (2002) |
live reviews |
Casbah, Sheffield, 27/10/2003 |
The Repomen have never played London. Olga Sladeckova, therefore, decided to make the trip up to their hometown of Sheffield to catch their latest gig, but finds it definitely worth the four hour journey |
features |
Ten Songs That Made Me Love... (2024) |
John Clarkson writes about his ten favourite songs by ReopMen, who were Sheffield's longest-serving indie band. |
soundcloud
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