No 188: Daggers (original) (raw)

Hometown: Manchester.

The lineup: Theo (vocals), Scotty (keyboards, vocals), Biz (synths, vocals), Adam (guitar), Jamie (drums).

The background: To paraphrase the influential Spanish author Carlos Dickens, this is either the best or worst of times for aspiring musicians. Because while the iPod age has levelled off pop time and granted young guns instant access to the whole history of rock'n'roll, it means that a) they can plunder from any era or many eras at will to create modern niche versions of bygone styles, but also that, through lack of first-hand knowledge or experience of said eras, in some cases that leads to b) the mixing and matching and plain juxtaposing of different styles to jarring effect.

Take Daggers, five Mancunians with a messed-up take on early 80s electro-pop. One of their tracks, Private Life, suggests they've been paying lax attention to their Greatest '80s Robo-Anthems In The World... Ever! and are now labouring under the misapprehension that Classix Nouveaux and A Flock Of Seagulls were remotely cool. They weren't; they were crap. The song itself furthers the impression of confusion, bolting together as it does a pleasantly trebly, dolorous Peter Hook (when he was in New Order) bass-as-guitar solo, some manic Human League keyboards and the cluttered, bombastic sound Steve Lilywhite imposed on Simple Minds after they Stopped Being Good (i.e. after New Gold Dream). Likewise After Midnight, the single Daggers released last year when they still traded under the name Bureau, which tries to give electronica a punky edge but in doing so ignores the golden rule of synth-pop: it was meant to sound glacial, effortless and cool, not like a whole load of huffing and bluster.

Their new double A-side suggests they're learning, though: Money and Magazine are both excellent electronic critiques - with brilliant tunes and cooing girly shop-assistant backing vox to match - of contemporary greed and celebrity culture, although the frontman still tries too hard to impress: remember that, from Phil Oakey and Jim Kerr to Glenn Gregory and Martin Fry, the singing mode back then was nonchalant and restrained, a sort of android croon, not the overanxious yelp employed by Daggers' Theo, who incidentally is a lemon-sucking, panda-eyed hybrid of Billy Idol and George Michael with a penchant for oversized white Wham!-style T-shirts. Like we said, no discrimination between the glorious and the naff, the sublime and the corblimey.

The buzz: "If there's any justice, this Gary Numan-goosing, skyscraping electro-rock will fill stadiums one day."

The truth: If The Human League had released Money in between Love Action and Open Your Heart, it would have been a Top 10 hit.

Most likely to: Do for 80s Guilty Pleasures what The Hoosiers are doing for the 70s variety.

Least likely to: Be overly grateful at mentions of their name in connection with the loathed early '90s romo movement.

File next to: Frankmusic, The Human League, Reverend & The Makers, Pulp circa Sheffield: Sex City.

What to buy: The Money/Magazine double A-side is available as a limited-edition seven-inch single and download via Label Fandango from October 22.

Links: MySpace page

Tomorrow's new band: One Republic.

Paul Lester