Emergency Broadcast: News Team take over
Written by Sophie Crowther
On 14th January 2010, a strange event occurred at Liverpool's popular live music venue Korova.  This event has resulted in the panic buying of furry bomber hats and many people in Liverpool have been reported to be stuck in the air guitar position.  We are led to believe that the cause of this chaos could be a band named News Team.  If you see them you should contact The Looprevil Press Police as soon as possible.  Our reporter Sophie Crowther was at the scene...

I love Korova as a live music venue.  Its rich, dark, reddy-orange basement with chic leather sofas makes the perfect place to get a great atmosphere going as if the coolest people in Liverpool had arrived all at once.  Basements are popular hangouts for the cool cats of Liverpool, take Heebie Jeebies and Django’s for example.  There is an air of exclusiveness about them that floats through the hot hot heat and makes you feel like you’re in an episode of Skins. 

News Team were the band in question on Thursday night - half a band of brothers, an old school friend and an LJMU student.  Being together for just over a year, they describe their music as ‘hi-octane, energetic, thin lizzy-esque pop punk’ although after experiencing the band live, I don’t think you could put them into any category. A very good thing.

With clear, strong and heartfelt lyrics the band took the stage opening with a song screaming “I want to be a prisoner to you”.  Lead singer Keith has a great voice and packs a punch into every word as if it’s his last breath.  I could tell that the band were enjoying themselves and I was impressed by the good vibes travelling through the crowd.  Going into ‘Pointless Mood’ a pattern started to emerge – News Team know what people want.  The members of the band complement each other wonderfully and it’s easy to see that they’ve really thought about each song from start to finish.  They swing between fast and slow, in time then out and the audience never really know what’s going to happen next.  Will it be a filthy beat? An awesome guitar solo courtesy of lead guitarist Phil Dyer?  Maybe some Gallows style hard core rock with something reminiscent of rap thrown in?  Whatever it was, people were dancing and feeling good about it.  The variety in their performance was great on one hand but on the other hand I wonder if without a strong musical identity they can get people to relate to them.  The band told me that they all have different inspirations ranging from Foo Fighters to Daft Punk and that they are happy to incorporate the different genres into their music – “it works for us”.

When it comes to lyrics I’d suggest that the band hasn’t quite hit puberty just yet – “You can’t tell me what to say, you can’t tell me what to do”.  With the hormonal lyrics of ‘Wide Open Spaces’ and others featuring memories of being “boys at school”, youthful angst and broken hearts seemed to be a strong theme.  The band have great stage presence without the need to co ordinate with each other’s personal style although it wouldn’t hurt them to look a bit more in sync with each other.  Rhythm guitarist James Bray had it spot on in a huge bomber hat giving the impression that he oozed with confidence and I reckon he left some girls in the room a little weak at the knees.  Well, they do say sex sells.

News Team certainly know how to work a crowd as they encouraged everyone to join in and clap along.  I liked that they liked being there, so often bands seem to lose enthusiasm and work the ‘mysterious’ cliché by appearing to be in a mood.  This band however were a pleasure to listen to and a spectacle to watch and they are already becoming successful after a headlining stint at Barfly and other appearances at the old Korova and The Pilgrim pub.  Like I said before, they know good music and they certainly aren’t boring.  Excellent riffs (listen to ‘Ronaldo’), words you can really sing along to and brand new emerging talent.  In their own words “you aint seen nothing this good”.

To listen to News Team visit to their myspace page – www.myspace.com/pointlessmood.