”I said AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! we’re gonna be around,” and do you know what JP, you weren’t wrong! I’m glad like many a-band I loved 2 years or so ago *‘A’ * are still here, they’re still cheeky but there’s something distinictly more complete about album number three (well, four if you include the live one) ’Hi-Fi Serious’. Maybe this is what they call maturity, and I guess that is bound to happen now that most of the band are married with children, although the sun visors, tattoo’s and ringleading circle pits is hardly typical parenting material. Forget the thought of them growing up cus that idea is a myth anyway…

‘A’ have always been a band to talk the talk about rockin’ yer face in but unlike a lot of hip-hop kidz who tell us over and over what they’re gonna do, ‘A’ have once again picked up their guitars, bashed their drum kit around the studio and rock the mic more convicingly than ever. They must be prophets or something, proof of the pudding was the albums first single ’Nothing’ which made devil signs all over the top 10 (ok, so it wasn’t exactly Number 1). A rock band is exactly what ‘A’ are. Pure and simple.

Album three is always meant to be the tricky one though and the first single suggested they’d given in to fashion and turned the spikey little skate vid friendly riffs into gigantic faded-black metal riffage. Forget that. ‘A’ are still here, but now the radio friendly melodies, yet more nintendo stolen samplings, riffs that sound like they’re sparkling like the sun on the crest of a wave during a slo-mo surf vid scene and hooks are a helluva lot more catchier than the England cricket team! Put simply, they’re better than ever. You only need to wrap your ears around forthcoming hit ‘Starbucks’ to realise that there’s somethin going on. ‘A’ are singing about a revolution happening, no shit. They’re summing up reclaim the streets, noting how polictians talk about the ‘working class’ and picking up every bit of today’s culture. It’s almost as if they’re smiling, they’re keeping it real but subtly muttering how everyones being fucked over but ”come on, you can have it your own way”. Is it such a bad idea [sorry] to proclaim JP - who sounds like Sting on helium - as the empowering voice of our generation?

What else… Ok, so there’s still leanings towards nu-metal (if you imagine decks + riffs + drums + samples = nu-metal but ‘A’ were here long before, obviously) and there’s still spandex clad influences from anthemic 80s stadium rock. Luckily, ‘A’ were always a band destined for stadiums and for some reason, listening to this record, that no longer seems like a silly pipe dream. All there is left to say is with chunky beats, charm and rock charisma, choons like ‘Shut Yer Face’ ‘A’ have come up trumps and the Foo Fighters and the rest America should beware. ‘A’ are gonna mix silliness and conviction until the sun goes down ready for a new dawn. Wake up, Wake up, etc, etc…

** ‘A’ = ACE! **