The Cribs
The New Fellas
by Melissa Mueller
Add a British version of The Strokes, a dash of Taking Back Sunday, and yes, at times even Maximo Park and you might get a result like The Cribs latest venture, The New Fellas.
Ironically enough, while The Cribs poke fun at “scenes” several times on the album, including the single “Hey Scenesters!,” it seems as if The Cribs is guilty of being, yes, a scenester band. On “Mirror Kissers” the band makes fun of hipsters: “You aren’t allowed to say that you’re better/You’re not allowed to say that cos you’re the hipster type/You’ve got a lot to say, but don’t mention the mirror kissing ways of the hipster type.” With mediocre lyrics and a sound that we all have heard several times by now, the band isn’t doing anything new or original here.
Nevertheless, the band doesn’t seem to take themselves too seriously, which makes for hilarious anecdotes. This is evident in songs like “I’m Alright, Me”: “Take drugs, don’t eat, have contempt for those you meet!” Other times, the band seems to be struggling to make words rhyme and the outcome is somewhat baffling. “The Wrong Way to Be” showcases this, with lyrics like, “Because a guy I used to know/is returning now to show/that they wrong way to be/is rubbing off on me.”
Besides “I’m Alright, Me” and the title track, no song on the record really stands out as solid. The problem is that the band’s sound is too similar to what’s already out there, without any distinctive trait to make them stand out. Unforunately, The New Fellas is an album by just another group of guys doing the same old thing. |
