Viva Brother - Famous First Words

The press haven't been too kind on Viva Brother. Luck hasn't either. After creating a little ripple of noise the band, formerly Brother, were forced to change name or face a lawsuit from an Australian outfit of the same name - all of this before an embarassing U-Turn from the NME, who've gone from "The return of the great British guitar band" to a lukewarm review that'd probably please Razorlight. You needn't look too far, if you Google their name, for something in the way of an attention-grabbing statement from the band taken in a negative stance, but in a world of "I'm a Gallagher brother, here's what I think, watch as this thought somehow becomes news" you can't really fault a new band for trying to stand out. Especially in that economic climate. And other such boring observations.

The problem is I'm not a very sympathetic person. Acts such as Yuck, Little Comets, The Joy Formidable and The Vaccines have all managed to garner some form of attention without bragging, slagging off contemporaries or wearing sunglasses all the fucking time. So let's cut the bullshit and assess the music.


From the very get-go there's obviously a strong 90s influence with the opening "whoa"s and a general Suede-imitation feel. Singer Lee Newell has certainly got an endearing energy about him and is backed ably by some howls and carefree harmonising - it's a fun opener all around. There're no prizes for guessing the most obvious (vocal, at least) similarity on 'Still Here' but it feels almost more like a soundtrack to some teen-comedy in the early 2000s. Lyrically they have more in common with B*Witched, though: "If you do, if you don’t, if you say that you won’t" being a genuine line. Musically though it's again pretty direct and not at all bad, just... nothing new.

The vocals begin to verge on the irritating in 'David' though with teen-scene groans and twangs that do little else than disguise the lyrics: "He makes a meal out of everything, but he’s never had me round for tea". Hmm. The melody's a little similar to Oasis' "Digsy's Dinner" or Blur's "Charmless Man" which would be rather remarkable if it was original or backed by decent lyrics. Riffs aplenty in 'High Street Low Lives' but it's too derivative to really make a name for itself - the most clichéd of choruses doesn't help that ("This is real and I'm free, this is what I wanna be", it begins). If vocals were subject to copyright I reckon Liam Gallagher would have a fairly solid claim to some of 'Electric Daydream's royalties. Of course now that the band themselves have decided to go and do some Beatles rip-offs, and Damon Albarn's trying to do everything musically possible, there's a bit of a gap in the market for some gobby Britpop revivalists - ED is certainly catchy in the same vein as Don't Look Back in Anger but seriously lacks in any emotional poignancy or anthemic chorals.

One of the highlights however is 'Darling Buds of May': a repetitive, hooking instrumental with a probable pisstake of lyricism ("It is what it is, it is what it is... I heard police last night, their sirens, oooh") attached - probable since the clear focus here was on producing the track behind it. 'Otherside' suffers from the same problems - there are some fun riffs towards the end but is otherwise a cacophony of riffs-you've-heard-before and terrible lyrics. Their Cigarettes and Alcohol derivative 'Fly By Nights' is a little like watching a bunch of 18 year olds starting a tribute band with a Topman wardrobe and spending their EMA on boxes of Fosters.


There's feedback at the start of 'False Alarm' which is obviously a sign of dark things to come. But literally as the track plucks away at my eardrums I cannot summon even the minutest of fucks to give about it. 'Time Machine' is certainly strong enough to be considered kinda-on-par-with-Dig Out Your Soul which could be a compliment depending on your point of view.

The problem is even the album title reeks of poseur material - and almost every track thereon suffers from the same problem. Pair this with a handful of ill-advised press statements and Twitter updates and you've got the recipe for Britain's next most-hated band. Some would argue it's better to make a name for yourself either way but it usually helps if your music is even nearly as memorable.

Rating: 4.5/10
Highlights: Time Machine, Darling Buds of May, Still Here
Avoid: Fly By Nights, High Street Low Lives, Otherside, False Alarm

Artwork Watch: There's a barber shop. There's four of them in the band. Do you see what joke I'm going to make? Razorshite. Yeah.
For fans of: Pretending the 90s didn't end, and pretending Liam Gallagher is somehow "decent".