The Sigla Blog

During the week I played The Spinto Band’s album for a friend who remarked: “They’ve got that really trendy sound, don’t they?”. I assumed his blunt observation referred to the kind of multi-instrumental flaky pop rock beloved of The Flaming Lips and lesserly Clap Your Hands Say Yeah favoured by the Delaware six piece. Last night at Whelan’s, after short sets by Switches and Warner’s new signing Director, six geeky indie boys piled out, jostling for space on the tiny stage. Despite elbow-room only conditions, they rocked out, bouncing around the stage, swopping places - and even instruments - in an effervescent performance. Guitarist Nick Krill and bassist Thomas Hughes share the vocal duties, and it’s amazing that Hughes has any spare breath to sing. He spasms and lurches around the stage so much that I start to fear some folk in the front row may get a smack of a bass head.

Single ‘Direct To Helmet’ draws one of the biggest cheers from the crowd, who also lap up their surf anthem ‘Oh Mandy’. ‘Crack The Whip’, a laconic classic with Beach Boys harmonies stands out, but ‘Brown Boxes’ proves memorable, not least for its kazoo track, but because most of the audience have kazoos of their own, courtesy of EMI. They barrell through the guts of their cracking debut, Nice and Nicely Done, with one encore, before they all lope off into the dark, leaving one of them behind to sell band T-shirts from a battered suitcase on the stage. Specialising in low-fi, high-energy power pop, someone should book The Spinto Band for one of the summer festivals.

Curious? You can listen to them over on their myspace page and their tour blog is over at Where will our van break?