It’s only a matter of time before somebody dubs Rifles singer Joel Stoker The Mod Son, so we might as well get it over with now and save ourselves the pain. Ten years ago, Paul Weller’s influence permeated the atmosphere of British rock like a bad smell, but The Rifles by-pass the tortured retro-rock of his Wild Wood incarnation and go straight back to Weller’s most popular and palatable era as The Jam's frontman.
It’s a pity that Stoker hangs so close to his influences (the plural is a little generous), because The Rifles are a tight little band. When they bang out urgent, ska-tinged guitar riffs (as on the album opener and Top 40 single ‘She’s Got Standards’), there’s no denying their potential. But the repetitive Wellerisms of their lead singer drag the band down.
Stoker’s lyrics could do with a lighter touch, too. Comparisons with Mike Skinner are vindicated by ‘She’s Got Standards’, but in the worst possible way – while it took Skinner three albums to degenerate into self-regarding pop-star navel-gazing, The Rifles have managed the trick on their banner single.
Elsewhere, social realism is the dominant tone. There’s definitely a need for this sort of thing (after enduring the vacuous wordplay of Chris Martin and his imitators, it’s nice to hear lyrics that are actually about something again), but Stoker badly needs to inject some humour into the mix – with Arctic Monkeys covering very similar territory, his overwhelming earnestness becomes grating after a while.
Someone should have a word in the lad’s ear about the Weller thing, maybe give him a few Pulp albums to listen to while they’re at it. Otherwise it’s hard to see The Rifles making progress.