Thanks to Scooter Stu at Punks in Parkas.com for this.
Review Robbi Millar.
Funny how some of the best songs are written about being at school. I hated it, from the indigestible dinners to the claustrophobic patronisation, but it’s still supposed to be the best time of your life. I crawl out of the woodwork of my second home to watch Sta Prest , they are playing "Schooldays" and it’s surprisingly good. A powerful rock song, smattered as is the whole set, with clever tense guitar intervals. Not heroism , just competence.
The name is misleading, Sta Prest neither look, nor sound nor play like mods. Their songs are too long. Too individual, they’re intended to mean more than just light relief as pop songs. Ranging from the heaviness of "Dead Man’s Handle" to the intricate build up of "Two Bodies" blending vocals and varied rhythm keep up the pace. And though they are not very old, Sta Prest play as well as any band I’ve seen. A Sad note is that the amount of people present at this gig was barely enough to fill a bus, due to bad advertising, and the kids who were there mainly consisted of the bands friends.
Split Rivitt were proficient, popular and good. They played a "bring the family" variety of R & B the inoffensive appeal being reminiscent of Rockpile but without the charisma of Basher and Co. My favourite R & B groups spit out frenzied sweaty versions of "Louie Louie" and don’t worry about the bum notes so I guess that Split Rivitt were just too cool and boring to be genuine. Personally I like this music dirty.
