TAKE quality 1960s British pop-rock, add power, and then stick a Motor City accent on it and you might get somewhere close to The Sights.
Full of riffs and melodic forcefulness, this Detroit trio - who graced Fibbers last night, making up for the fact they had to cancel in York earlier this year - are fiery and compact yet have too many poppy hooks to be classed as 'garage punk' alongside their contemporaries.
In fact, ignore the fuzziness around the so-called 'New Rock Revolution', The Sights are too damn good to be categorised alongside wannabes.
They shouldn't be compared to fellow Detroitites the White Stripes either; they are more like bluesy Small Faces with muscle and, with any more gigs like this, they are bound to win over many more real music lovers before their month-long European tour ends in London on September 29.
Most of the songs came from the Got What We Want album, including opening gambit and latest single Be Like Normal, a quick-fire number that deserves to lift The Sights into the eyeline of the populous.
All were delivered with verve by frontman Eddie Baranek, who, although he looks more like a diminutive surfer than a rocker, has a stonking voice and a stage presence that simply makes you want to listen. That said, it was hard to look away from drummer Dave Shettler - if Animal, from the Muppets, is a caricature of Keith Moon, then the tireless Shettler is a caricature of Animal.
The only gripe was the fact the Fibbers crowd was bizarrely sparce and subdued. The band deserved better, and should hopefully get it at the Cockpit in Leeds tonight - try not to miss out.
Updated: 11:20 Thursday, September 04, 2003
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