Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It seems such an interminable age since the position vacant sign went up on the door, group of young energetic lads from Ireland who can actually play decent Rock and Roll and who has rhythm engrained throughout their souls. The call becomes a shout, a bellow and an unremitting plea and like Manchester City in the mid-1990s in search of a manager who actually could do the same fine job that Peter Reid was on the verge of creating, the appeal seems to have kept falling upon deaf ears…until the listener finds a band from County Cavan has been plugging away and The Whereabouts make introduce themselves with honour.
There is something deeply satisfying about coming across a band whose playing ability is infectious to the point of knocking down every defence that gets built up. It is even more so when you see the joy of concentration and admirable lust for the song in the performance. For Wayne Watters Reilly, Joseph Adcock, Evan Murphy and Dara Curtis, the rugged, handsome terrain in which their souls were bought into the world, reflects perfectly on the sound they have produced on their album I Don’t Care.
The album title may suggest otherwise but the band quite obviously are bothered and the statement of intent that is riddled like a never ending enjoyable crossword is firmly laid out for all to see, the listener will certainly care and like that same crossword puzzle, the more they feel for the answers, the more they look deeply within to the stirring lyrics, the more enjoyment they feel.
The seven songs that gives I Don’t Care its glimpse of gratifying potential is like your first ever lover being voted winner in the yearly vote to find the best looking man or woman in the country. You know you could never have competed with them but for a while they chose to be with you. The heart ache of listening to them inspiring someone else is made easier by the fact you were their inspiration for a while.
The tracks Money & Fame, We’re On The Run, Roadrunner and a rather superior cover of a song that should in many respects be impossible to recreate without Birmingham’s finest musician being at helm. To hear any band take on Jeff Lynne’s highly charged E.L.O. hit Don’t Bring Me Down could be seen in many eyes as being a heresy, an unorthodox behaviour and trembling on the verge of arrogance, not for The Whereabouts though. For these four young lads from Ireland, it is a truth inspired homage, the overwhelming lust that appears in the other songs on the album is turned to deep and fulfilled love that is of the highest opinion and deference; a dramatic climax to a great set of songs.
The Whereabouts are easy to find, just listen carefully for the sound of rustling youthful endeavour shrouded in a fine layer of talent and there you will find the situation vacant sign being torn down and shredded.
Ian D. Hall