Leeds mob Just Watch The Fireworks have spent two years together as a band before putting this record together, which you can stream or download for free from Bandcamp. It’s a first record with a few limitations and a few things that made me go ‘ewww’, but on the whole it’s a decent first effort and gives the band something to build on.
First song ‘Second Star To the Right’ features a few bum vocal notes, some weird percussion effects (it’s weird the vocals don’t seem to be auto-tuned at all yet some of the instrumentation, to my ears, seems to have been layered in) and a chorus that doesn’t quite take off as it should. While that actually sums the band up quite well – messy – they;re certainly on the right lines. They’ve clearly decided they’re going to write some vocal melodies and build the songs around them and they have a good go. In places it works well (‘Don’t Tell Titus’ reminds me of early The Offspring), in others not so. But at least this is honest and played with a collective smile on their faces – Just Watch The Fireworks have some ability and plenty to improve on.