With a million young bands all citing the same post-punk records as their main inspiration, the Futureheads have found a niche for themselves by working from the same building blocks and creating something that rings truer than the rest.
The first thing that comes to mind is that the band sound a lot like XTC did in their earliest days. Once you get past that, you can hear that they've got their own songs and ideas worming their way through this jagged, explosive, tight and highly tuneful concoction. The fact that all four members take on vocal duties and engage in some twisted harmonies and vocal trade-offs that are nearly dizzying also helps bring the band into their own.
This Sunderland four-piece are both an intriguing and powerful mass of contradictions. They are a band who - like all the best bands – look and feel like a gang, but who, in this instance, can rarely agree on anything at all. A band who have deliberately set themselves only short-term, low-key goals, but are, realistically, on the verge of going all the way. A band who recognise and salute the DIY ethic, while simultaneously detesting its implicit under-achievement. A band who can accurately cite Devo, Queen, Fugazi and Kate Bush as influences, but who have carved out their own instantly identifiable sonic niche.
The band released its debut single in late 2002, and followed it up with two more singles in 2003, 123 Nul and First Day, both of which were issued by the Fantastic Plastic label. 679 stepped up to release the band's self-titled full-length in mid-2004 and the band haven't looked back since with their single "The Hounds Of Love" reaching the top 10 in the UK charts.