The Fetts

some bands are formed out of mutual interest or a common bond that has brought it's members together.

the big question then, is how far do you see this thing through?

while the majority of local acts will knock together a number of demo recordings for their myspace and be content to play the occasional gig once in a while, there are also those that take it all a little bit more seriously.

The Fetts are one such band that have seen fit to give fans something solid and substantial to fill shelf space with, releasing their debut album, Transitions, last month and holding a couple of intimate gigs to celebrate this milestone with their true fans, launching the album with a gig in Hertford, swiftly followed by a recent turn at Enfield's own Bar Form.

the band, formed in 2008, have been passing out free CDs at gigs for a while now, serving as a taster for those that like what they have seen live, but now the entire album can now be ordered by those wishing to dig a bit deeper.

so what can you expect from debut, Transitions?

in a previous live review i noted that the band's sound was firmly rooted in 90's rock and the album delivers a substantial return on influential investments in the post-Cobain glory days when bands were making waves in a musical landscape reshaped by the invention of grunge, channeling the rootsy and raw music that still kept an eye and thoughts on lucrative arena touring.

This skewed Americana served up via North London fuses Counting Crows with Feeder in a slowburning melodic rock sound that reflects the high standards the band must have surely set themselves when recording this self-funded album at St Alban's Unsigned Studios.


The result is an album that grows more rewarding with each listen, particularly during the latter part of the longplayer where my personal highlights, Turning Point and I'm Not A Machine, come into play at the half-way mark and kick everything up a gear, not backing down until the accomplished album is brought to a close with the powerful, I Must Be Blind.

And when the album went on sale exclusively through Zavvi, dedicated fans soon helped place it at the top of their pre-order chart throughout January and early February, ahead of highly anticipated albums from Chase and Status and Beady Eye, proving that the three piece must be garnering something of a cult following already.

The Fetts - Not A Machine