The Ridings: ‘The Big Demo’

Uninspired, frighteningly unoriginal, and armed with that most measly of pop tools - greasy chip shop guitars - West Yorkshire’s Ridings grate on the nerves almost immediately.

The copying of the Arctic Monkeys is so complete that it’s a wonder they haven’t been signed yet, though that fact probably speaks to the overall value of the group’s original material, and when I tell you that calling it that is almost a contradiction in terms, you’ll understand more of what we’re dealing with.

We have melodies that don’t actually fit, extremely lax musicianship and hilariously poor lyrical content, “I hate to break it too you, I don’t want no cheese on toast at the disco” - just what were these boys thinking when they penned that shocker?

Perhaps most pathetic is their simpering cover of The Hives' 'Hate To Say I Told You So'. The recording is painfully out of time where it should be tight and the singer, Kris Holland, cannot hope to match Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist’s Jagger-meets-Iggy posturing and falls extremely short when he is called to master the song’s screaming crescendo finish, in the end only mustering a dull shout.

Given their geographic proximity to Turner’s boys, the thick Yorkshire accent Holland sings in can be forgiven, but their ties to the same area does not satisfactorily account for the interchangeable riffs and exact same vocal phrasing of the two bands. Though I hasten to stress, there is a certain disparity between the two in one respect: quality.

myspace.com/theridings

Written by Richard Wood.