Johnny Foreigner

Birmingham’s a bit of a mixed bag, isn’t it? On one hand you’ve got bands such as The Twang (bad, derivative) and then there are forward-thinking young guitar-slingers like Johnny Foreigner. This youthful trio have been listening to Sonic Youth instead of Stone Roses and Huggy Bear over Happy Mondays. The end result is a turbo-charged, noisy and downright promising debut mini-album. If Los Campesinos! weren’t so twee, there were less of them and they’d cared about Henry Rollins, they might sound a bit like JF on ‘The End And Everything After’. They’ve even taken a leaf out of LC!’s book and incorporated a ridiculous genre into one of their song titles. ‘Sofacore’ sounds like The Futureheads’ Hyde brothers having an argument with their little sister, whereas ‘This Band Is Killing Us’ sets out on a Pavement tip and ends up all melancholy. We’re still smiling though.

Rob Webb

7 out of 10