Bang Bang Bang!

Originally posted on the 12th of May 2007

http://www.myspace.com/bangbangbangtheband

Up and coming? Maybe. Good? Definitely. Bang Bang Bang! are a Brighton based girl fronted punk band. Now, I don’t mean Avril Lavigne pop punk cry about how life’s so complicated, I mean real angry antiestablishment punk. Front(wo)man Natalie has more balls than half the pretentious self absorbed musicians that are knocking about at the moment, and she’s not afraid to show it.

So What Is It?

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that its punk, but incase you missed it the first few times… its really punk. I’ve seen Bang Bang Bang! play live a few times now, both with acoustic guitars, and fully fledged wailing distorted ones. They have yet to leave me unsatisfied after a set. Its not difficult to see that they’re heavily influenced by Nirvana, in fact, Natalie has been coined to be a female Kurt Cobain by a number of people, this is most note-able when the band play a Nirvana cover midway through their set which fits in perfectly with their style. Natalie owns the stage, and the red bits of her hair shimmer under the dim stage lighting. Looking at her before the band start playing, you really wouldn’t expect what’s to come.

‘Start A Fight’ is the song I would listen to as a good introduction to this band. Produced by Marc Waterman (Elastica, Inch, Ash) the song is angry and raw and generally a very well oiled piece of audible machinery. You can tell exactly what you’re listening to from the first riff, theres no gentle intro, theres no change in tempo, and there doesn’t need to be. You’re thrown straight in at the deep end of the very distorted, fast, powerchord-filled verse and drawn very quickly into the chorus with hails of “do you want to start a fight”. The songs boasts pure simplicity at its finest, it doesn’t need complex structures or harmonies, it is what it is, and it works.

Room for improvement?

Naturally there’s always room for improvement but with Bang Bang Bang! I’m very hesitant to suggest any specific things to change. They have a niche, a very good approach to the music business, and great style. Obviously its questionable as to how commercially viable the songs are, but with this genre of music – who really cares? The only improvement that they could make is that although they have stage presence, I have yet to witness nearly enough stage energy. It would be great to see all three of them really get into the music and move around on stage.

This band are certainly one to go and see if you live anywhere near Brighton, or even if you don’t, they’re worth the trip. Their’ Myspace stats could be better with only 8,000 hits so far, but their’ forthcoming release on the 2007 BIMM Album is likely to boost that figure by a significant amount. With plenty of upcoming gigs and a Brighton Juice FM appearance, Bang Bang Bang! We salute you.