Leisurenoise

Gay Dad are the band it's cool to hate, derided as an ex-music journalist's PR stunt, a joke concept rather than an organic rock band. It's not surprising that the British music press have singled out Cliff Jones for vilification - how dare a music journalist fulfil the frustrated ambition of fronting a popular rock band! That's just not supposed to happen! The chorus of disapproval is very revealing, heavily tainted with the bitterness that one of their own has dared to break the mould and actually begun to achieve his dreams.

Separating the hype from Gay Dad is not easy. They lend themselves far too easily to criticism with a mixed bag of pastiches of Mansun ('Pathfinder', 'Black Ghost'), The Bluetones, Primal Scream ('Dateline') and Bernard Butler ('Different Kind Of Blue'), but while the material is clearly derivative, it is very listenable and at times highly enjoyable. The current singles 'Joy' and 'To Earth With Love' are by far the best of what's on offer here. They are both suffused with an edgy tension that is uplifting, brooding and drop dead sexy all at the same time.

Like any brash British band worth their salt, Gay Dad have spectacular illusions of grandeur articulated by their rent-a-quote frontman, who, after enduring daily waffle from sad wannabes during the Britpop years, has well earned the right to take the piss now.

Fuck the begrudgers, Cliff.