Interviewing Paul Simonon many years ago I took him to task for “the only band that matters” tag that was appearing on all their advertising at the time. “Don’t look at us,” he replied. “We had nothing to do with it. It was the record company.” Paul had a point and anyway, “only band that matters” is like “voice of a generation” and “messiah”. Only other people can award it to you.
There’s only been two voices of a generation in many more generations than that: Dylan and Cobain. And only one band that matters even if it was their record company who anointed them: The Clash. Till now. After streaming four songs from their upcoming album The Monitor, I am here to tell you: Titus Andronicus are the only band that matters:
Ian Graetzer – bass guitar
Amy Klein – Guitar, Violin
David Robbins – Keyboard , Guitar
Eric Harm – drums, vocals
Patrick Stickles – vocals, guitar, harmonica
Their ambitious are all musical as on their blog they try to figure how to make the rent without selling out. If you see Titus Andronicus live on stage , they wander around the room before the gig making friends with their fans, proving their existential angst only goes as far as it takes them tp connect, decently, morally, musically, emotionally, with a huge audience: a fanbase, a friendbase.
They are such fucking nice guys.
And meanwhile the first song I’ve heard off the newbie “Fourscore And Seven Years” is… I know I’m gonna fuck this up but: it’s like an American folk opera devolving into a rock anthem and anchored by some gorgeous harmonica: “I wasn’t born to die like a dog I was born to die just like a man” Stickles sings. People are comparing this to an English Billy Bragg and I love Billy as much as the next bloke (harhar) and more than most but this is worthy of Bragg heroes the Clash. It is an epic rock song like Regina Spektor’s “Ink Stains” is an epic rock song.
The other songs can’t live up to this (neither can anything on the first album: it’s a stand alone, again like “Ink Stains”) . But that is certainly not to put the other three songs remotely down. They are perfect Titus songs: a mix of religions imagary and religious failure and I will have a lot more to say about all of them as time goes by.
For now: Titus Andronicus are the only band that matters and i can’t wait to see em tonight.