The Twang - Forum, Tunbridge Wells - Friday 9th March 2007

The Twang seem to have been hotly tipped for success in 2007 by just about everybody lately - including the NME, BBC, The Sun no less, and not least by themselves. They have been compared to Oasis and The Streets simultaneously, which I think makes them not dissimilar to somebody like the Happy Mondays - laddish audience, dance and rap mixed with indie and guitars, and plenty of drugs and self confidence. Anyway, people seem to think that people will soon stop comparing their sound to others, because the sound of "The Twang" will be known by everybody before too long. Their debut single Wide Awake seems to be good enough to make that happen, at any rate.

Given all these plaudits, they are a must-see right now, and it is fantastic that the Tunbridge Wells Forum provides a chance for people in a small Kent town to see bands like this on their way up. You don't get into gigs like this in London, where there is too much of a buzz, and the small gigs all sell out so quickly - but it isn't far to come to get a piece of the action. In the pub before the gig, the band were having a few drinks, and they seemed like a good bunch of lads - you probably wouldn't see that at a London gig.

Their set was, unsurprisingly, pretty similar to this one from London a couple of days earlier - except for the big difference that the singer mentioned Tunbridge Wells all the time - most commonly when saying "Come On Tunbridge Focking Wells". He also remarked how lively the crowd were, and how well the band were being received - presumably surprised that a small town could muster a crowd that was so up for it.

Listening to the set, I really enjoyed it - the bad were extremely polished, extremely tight (despite being well lubricated by the time they came on), and clearly very good at what they do. However, I did think that current single Wide Awake was their best song by some distance - whether that was just because I am most familiar with that one, I cannot work out, but none of the others got from "good" to "great" for me. Given the mix of styles in their music, I can see them playing dance tents as well as indie stages at the festivals this summer - that could be good as well as bad for them.

It could be good because a lot of people are going to see this band over the next year, and many will really enjoy what they see and hear - they are definitely a band that know how to give their audience a good time. But, it is really difficult to see them being all that many peoples' "favourite band", just because they mix genres so readily. Indie kids will always think that they are too dancey, and dance/rap/Streets fans may find them too rock influenced. Most of the people I went with liked them, but I heard few people saying that they are their new favourite band.

In summary, a very good set from an accomplished live band - they are great at what they do, but I felt that they have one absolute standout song, and after that I'm not sure. Plus, their genre-mixing may mean that they will hit a limit on the number of hardcore fans they will be able to pick up. Which means that, despite being good, they may not get quite as famous as everybody seems to think.