SINGLE REVIEW : CAPESTHORNE – Down And Probably Out

[review by steve rastin]

What’s a guy to do when the band he’s in is suddenly forced into hiatus as a result of unforeseen circumstances?

If you’re Russell Pearson, bass player with the quite excellent Sour Speech, you simply grab a couple of mates together and form a new band and christen yourselves Capesthorne – well of course you do!!!

Sour Speech distinguished themselves from the rest of the area’s pop-punk fraternity by aligning their sound closer to that of the likes of Paramore and No Doubt than the usual Blink 182/ Green Day/ Sum 41 cerberus that is still the more common currency among bands of this type.

Russell is a vastly experienced musician having played in any number of bands, most notable with North Walian post-hardcore faves Leucine, and it was unlikely that he was going to sit around waiting for things to sort themselves out with Sour Speech (although a little bird tells me that they will be returning to the fray fairly soon).

The first thing you notice upon listening to the two tracks that Capesthorne have put out – All That Glitters and Life Is Too Short – is that there is no attempt to put an Americanised accent on the vocals, something that I have always found baffling when the singer is from New Brighton rather than New York, but which is nonetheless almost a pre-requisite for the genre.

Of the two songs, Life Is Too Short is the more immediately accessible, breezing along at a fair old lick towards a chorus that has the word “singalong” buried into its very soul, but that’s not to say that All That Glitters is any kind of slouch either and is a song that may to have more depth in the long run.

Capesthorne are going out live later this month and you can catch them at Rhyl Front Room on Sunday January 28th alongside Pan!k Attak and Just Hannah and at Rhyl O’Gradys on Friday February 23rd, supported by Dylan Ratcliffe.