Interiors - Delays are Dangerous

  by John Clarkson

published: 9 / 1 / 2009

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Review

The Interiors are a new band from Sheffield, whose old school punk rock sound has a sense of both urgency and attitude. The group, a four piece, consists of Sharleen Fenton (guitar), Adam Goshawk (guitar), Bob Cassidy (bass), and John Ronson (drums). With Sharleen, Adam and Bob splitting vocal duties equally between them, nobody could accuse the Interiors of wasting any time on their debut album, 'Delays are Dangerous'. It packs 16 tracks into its running time of 34 minutes. Only one of these songs, the psychedelic-tinged 'Walls', extends beyond three minutes, and several of the others clock in at well under the two minute mark. ‘Delays are Dangerous’ opens well with the Bob-sung pop punk of 'She's In Japan', which merges grindsaw guitars with a vibrating bass-line, clashing drums, and chiming backing vocals from Adam and Sharleen, all to splendid effect. This provides a blueprint for the rest of the record. With their relentless, whiplash guitars and John Ronson's machine gun-style, explosive drum work, the Interiors quickly build up a snappy energy and the album a breathless aura. Sharleen Fenton in particular stands out with her vocals, which have a similar tongue-in-cheek sneer and offbeat surreality to those of the Rezillos' Fay Fife. The lyrics strike a balance between being funny and having a genuine poignancy, often both at once. 'She's In Japan' is about a Brit abroad who swallows the culture whole ("Throwing hard and kicking high/She'll soon be a samurai"). Adam employs hammily theatrical vocals on his 'Dogs Bark at Me' , but captures well at the same time the relentless bleakness of depression ("Another day/Another feeling of lethargy/A broken toy/Another personal tragedy/Cause nothing ever seems to go right for me"). The Sharleen-sung 'Raskolnikov' is meanwhile addressed to the existential anti-hero of Dostoevesky's 'Crime and Punishment' (So you killed some people ? So what ? Man is a louse"), while on 'Let's Go', another of her songs, she has man trouble ("And you never phone/And you're never at home/Oh, I could go psycho"). The jokey humour of the album, however, is taken all too far with rockabilly final track, the Ben-sung 'Subtle Love Song'. A misogynist's handbook to love and sex ((“I want to ride you like a bike/You dirty, filthy fucking whore/I’ll pound you until my dick is sore”), it is, with a woman in the band and on backing vocals, meant to be ironic rather than sexist. Easily open to misinterpretation, it, however, comes across as just crude and tasteless. ‘Delays are Dangerous’ is nonetheless a fine album, which despite these flawed final minutes, has a lot to offer punk fans.

Track Listing:-

1 She's In Japan
2 My Little Pony
3 Dogs Bark At Me
4 Nikki And The Golddigger
5 Raskolnikov
6 V166
7 Honeysuckle
8 Let's Go
9 Without Style
10 3 Punk Bands
11 Love You Anyway
12 Formerly Like Damocles
13 The Wanted Things
14 Sweet Dream
15 Walls
16 Subtle Love Song