This Aint Vegas

Disclaimer: Any offers of monetary reimbursement made in this article are not to be taken seriously. I am _seriously_ broke. Thank you

This Ain't Vegas make me want to crash a fire engine into my record collection, for they are the be-all and end-all of what punk rock should be about. Their no-nonsense approach is gloriously refreshing, and, for once, they've talent by the skipload to match. God damn it, there's no other way to say it: I love them.

BUT, let's not be too hasty. Somewhere in that collection is a fine debut album from Econoline (that'll be 'Music Is Stupid', by the way), and tonight a handful of songs contained on it - the singles 'Full Tar' and 'I'm Plagued' amongst them - are fleshed-out into jaw-gnashing rock beasts. A few new tracks, no doubt lifted from their forthcoming second album, are even better, drilling a previously untapped vein of experimentation, whilst frontman Ian Scanlon gets progressively more agitated. Also-cum-nearly-rans for so long, but Econoline have become a very exiciting prospect indeed. Come away from them disappointed in 2004 and I'll pay for your taxi home, via a mincing factory.

BUT, again, not quite as exciting as Sunderland's This Ain't Vegas. Their 'Black Lung Captain' album was the finest British rock record of 2003, bar none, and although they've just come off a German tour, the four-piece look crisper than freshly-starched y-fronts. Frontman Adam Rose's hair may have grown, but underneath the flailing mop he's still got one of the most unique, angry voices in music, and with Richard Amundsen's back-up, the full-frontal duel-vocal assualt is frightening, especially in such a tiny venue. Amundsen's scream of "Are you ready!?" signals the beginning of the superb 'Been Party', but the set's highlight is unquestionably the band's cover of Devo's 'Girl U Want', shot-through with fraught emotion whilst retaining an all-important pop edge. You can buy it, you know, and probably should. Too ramshackle (and blighted by technical hitches) to be spot-on perfect, This Ain't Vegas are, nevertheless, remarkable.

In hindsight, crashing a fire engine might have been a little extreme. After all, if you've nothing to compare them to, how would you know This Ain't Vegas were so good? My advice: compare for yourself and leave the big red trucks in the big red station. If you don't love them, I'll give you your money back. And then set you on fire.