Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Bridge Gang

I loved The Bridge Gang's manifesto:
We were NOT influenced by Orange Juice, XTC or Wire. Morrissey did NOT change our lives. We did NOT form at artschool. We are BORED of indie disco. We LOVE making POP NOISE.


I loved their second single, Blue Sky Grey, a battery of brutal guitars and smart pop tunes, short and sweet, like a collision of Buzzcocks-style punk immediacy, The Undertones' youthful joie de vivre and Dinosaur Jr's late 80s raw chaos.

I love their current single, London Sky Tonight, which is more of the above and that, let there be no mistake, is a very good thing.

I love the way they split up after three singles. There are so many great bands who should've done that before they pissed their talent up the wall and marred their original spirit. Three singles, thrown out with no fanfare but much glorious POP NOISE (oh yes) and that's that.

I hate the fact that I never got off my arse to see them live when I had plenty of chances to do so. I don't like the debut single, Pangs of Guilt, so much as it comes too close to their wishes to be a grunge band, when what they were best at was buzzsaw pop punk.

But one great single (London Sky Tonight) is far more than most bands ever achieve. Add to that one classic single (Blue Sky Grey) and The Bridge Gang's legacy is greater than most other bands', whatever those bands might think. And you've got to love them for that.

One third of The Bridge Gang now leads The Olympians. I saw them the other week at RoTa, but it's too soon (and their myspace has no songs) to tell how good they'll be. Still, if they're half as good as The Bridge Gang and make just the one great single, it'll be enough.

8 comments:

Tom said...

Two thirds of the Bridge Gang are in the Olympians.

You can get London Sky Tonight at www.soundsexperience.co.uk

Anonymous said...

You're right it is a great single. The Olympians promise to be even better than that.

Anonymous said...

Blue Sky Grey was a truly classic single and The Bridge Gang had more balls and conviction than most bands on the planet can ever dream of.

I can't wait to hear Olympians.

Anonymous said...

The other two thirds of The Bridge Gang became Joseph and the Witch, saw them live a couple of times and was blown away. When people saw a female drummer and male guitarist/vocalist they all thought "White Stripes" but the sound was very much Bridge Gang.

Not quite sure what's happening to them now though.. their MySpace says "We were Joseph and the Witch, now we're not"

Anonymous said...

Sorry, me being stupid, not reading properly. Joseph and the Witch became The Olympians...

Anonymous said...

Joseph and the Witch was Lucy on drums. Olympians is Bret on drums.

Olympians is basically Joseph and the Witch x 100!

Tom said...

I think The Clockwork Four have changed their name back to The Bridge Gang!

Fire Escape said...

Just so long as they put out a record soon, I don't mind too much what they're called!