Mad Staring Eyes: Bored of Looking Cool LP

When I stumbled across London’s Mad Staring Eyes mid-way through their set last month at North by Northeast, I thought to myself that I’d discovered the new kings of pub rock. When bass player Dan Lee handed me a copy of Bored of Looking Cool, and I saw they have a track called “King of Pub Rock,” I figured I wasn’t alone in my opinion. They’re also one of the few bands I’ve ever seen to list Ian Dury as an influence, so there you go.

Like their predecessors in the genre, MSE play straight-up rock with a raucous attitude. They’ve got a great bunch of tunes on this disc, however this recording comes a little short of capturing the band’s frenetic live energy. It does, however, do a rather nostalgic tip of the hat to the heyday of pub rock simply due to the fact that it sounds like it could’ve been recorded in the early ’80s (the dated keyboard textures on tunes like “Out of my Head” definitely drive that point home).

This record has been a few years coming. In 2005, the band won the John Peel award for the UK’s best new band which quickly lead to festival appearances at Glastonbury and South by Southwest, so it’s a bit of a shame that the album that started out with such promise ended up sounded a bit like a dated demo, but at least the songs are good, which says a lot.

Singer Alex Jay delivers some of the strangest lines I’ve heard in a while, such as or “I met her in a psychiatric ward/She was rolling on the floor/I helped her up/Put her on the sofa/I put the kettle on/She rolled over” from the lovely if not slightly demented “Don’t Lead Me On.”

Not a bad record overall. If you’ve never seen them live, then the difference between the record and the live show probably won’t bug you at all. But if you get the chance, check them out in action. Lots of fun to say the least.

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