Viva Brother - Famous First Words

I wasn’t going to bother writing about Famous First Words, the debut from the world’s finest (and only) ‘gritpop’ outfit Viva Brother, but after reading some of the rather spiteful reviews thought I’d offer my own two pennies.

And if you’re reading this and in the band, there’s good and bad news: the Independent, Guardian, Pitchfork, musicOMH, and NME may think your album’s rubbish – but I think it’s alright. Pretty good, in fact. And surely the approval of A Knight’s Tale is worth more than that of some of the largest news organisations in the world?

There seem to be a few recurring criticisms levelled at the release:

1. Viva Brother are musically and lyrically simple, and artistically bereft

I don’t really know what people were expecting here – Kid A Part II? If you listen to Famous First Words expecting atmospheric soundscapes, Byronic poetry and an all-encompassing theme on the meaning of life, you will be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you listen to Famous First Words expecting catchy, addictive pop songs that you’ll be humming all week, you’ll be going home very pleased.

They are not The Horrors. They are not The XX. They are never going to be nominated for the Mercury Prize. But unlike both of those great bands, they write songs which you will sing along to at three in the morning, arm round your mates, beer in hand, generally being massive, cringe worthy ‘lads’. It’s simple, but good fun. Take it for what it is.

2. Viva Brother changed their name from Brother

One of the more absurd reasons for mockery seems to be the band name, and the court case that led it to being changed. This is mentioned in nearly every review. Who cares? 

 

3. Viva Brother are shamelessly ripping off Britpop

If you hired a crack team of the world’s best lawyers, with a bribed and hypnotised jury and the singer’s mum as judge, this claim still couldn’t be denied. Every song borrows heavily from Oasis, Blur, The Stone Roses, Suede, Supergrass and many others – but the way some reviewers go on about it, you’d think Viva Brother are the first ever band to imitate influences.

Referring again to point 1 – if you listen to this record expecting genre-breaking originality and a musical revolution, you are going to be disappointed. But criticising it for mimicking a genre which in the first place shamelessly ripped off The Beatles, T. Rex, The Rolling Stones and The Smiths seems a bit harsh.

Apparently, it’s okay to sound like the 1970s or 1980s – because it’s fashionable, you see – but not the 1990s.

4. Members of Viva Brother used to be in 'emo' bands

Again – who cares?

5. Members of Viva Brother annoyingly try too hard

“It’s time for a proper band with some bollocks”, “we’ve written some of the best songs of the past 20 years” – yes, they probably are getting a bit carried away without realising how silly they sound. Yes, ‘gritpop’ is an absolutely ridiculous, embarrassing term which – quite understandably really – still gets used against them.

However, the key here, following on from all the other points above, is to listen to the music without letting the daft interviews, band name, overhyping and silly sunglasses cloud your judgement. And if you can do that, you actually find a decent album...

Singles Darling Buds of May, Still Here, New Year’s Day and the forthcoming Time Machine are amongst the best guitar-pop songs released this year – well-structured, addictively hooky, memorable and whilst not exactly lyrically deep, the words complement the music and fit in very well.

Electric Daydream and High Street Low Lives could have come straight off The Great Escape or Modern Life Is Rubbish, and this is meant as a great compliment. Unoriginal, yes, but up there with the best of what they are copying.

There are few genuinely weak points on this ten-track album – David falls short of the songs either side of it, and Otherside, Fly By Nights and False Alarm are individually decent-if-not-great tracks, but listened together do sound too similar. This is probably my main criticism of the album – I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with sticking to the same genre, but branching out within that genre could have helped Brother here. Each song fulfils its quota of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, and choruses could easily be interchanged between songs without anyone noticing.

Still – once you get over the prejudices, some of which the band created, some of which they didn’t, this album consists of ten tracks of catchy, fun pop. It’s nothing special – did anyone really expect it to be? – but it’s nowhere near as bad as some have made out. It is what it is... 7.5/10

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