Preston’s local music scene has been punching above its weight for years, and one of the key reasons for that is Alan Gillhespy.
As well as heading up Nirvana tribute act the Pat Smear Test, he produces local talent, organised the Harvest arts festival and fronted Go Around Captain.
From the ashes of Go Around Captain come Three Headed Monkey, but despite featuring some of the usual suspects it’s an altogether different sound and a different band. Four compact, weighty anthems with outsized hearts, it’s a searing, confident debut.
Thanks to a gleaming, thick mix by Chris Clancy, the guitars and drums sound thick and crisp, far more muscular than you’d expected a local band to achieve.
Gillhespy may have a penchant for comedic song titles (previous entries include ‘Prise Ballz,’ ‘Peter Jones Wants A Four-Minute Egg’ plus this EP’s ‘Doors Are Fart Scissors’ and ‘C!£@stipation’) but his lyrics skew towards the sincere, with a whiff of prime period Idlewild about them.
Agile riffs battle for attention with soaring, emotive hooks (‘Forgive yourself/I can’ Gillhespy croons) and a thudding rhythm section. Song wise, it’s a revival of the lurching, segmented compositions that characterised the British post-hardcore scene at the turn of the millennium.
With melodies this strong and music this tight, if there’s any justice Three Headed Monkey will expand out of the North West until the whole country takes notice.
Do they have to use drums? 