Stagecoach - Say Hi To The Band

It’s not been a typical debut album journey for Surrey’s Stagecoach. Sprinkling EP and single releases over the last five years, as well as touring for almost ten, they’ve finally sat down long enough to record ‘Say Hi To The Band’. From country-influenced folk beginnings through to their borderline riotous indie-rock of recent years, they’ve probably had some moments of serious self-doubt as to whether an album would actually emerge. But their persistence has paid dividends, and they now have a full-length release to call their own.

Long-term fans of the band can relax, because it’s good. There, we can all go home now. I’ve got a few episodes of Parks And Recreation to catch up on, and who is reading this review anyway? Oh yeah, you are. What we have here ladies and gentlemen is a lesson in self-assurance. Debut albums in their very nature are designed to convert you, and sometimes it can come off as a bit desperate when bands put all their emphasis into the first few songs. It can seem as if there was a reluctance to consider the record as a complete entity. But these five men from Dorking have recorded and performed enough in their career that their entire existence of their debut album has been chiselled and moulded so much to the point that they come across as fearless, and certain of their abilities.

Throughout ‘Say Hi To The Band’ they flaunt their talents. The pop nuggets that are ‘Action’ and ‘Work! Work! Work!’ tee up the album to relentlessly attack you, but suddenly it slows down with ‘56k Dial-Up’ (insert pre-Broadband joke here) and the gorgeous trumpet finale of ‘A New Hand’. It growls with urgency when it needs to, as it does with ‘Kings Resolve’ and ‘First & Last’, but before that becomes tired it rejuvenates with ‘Nothing Leads You Astray’. Old fans may be pleased to see a reworked version of 2009’s ‘We Got Tazers’ hiding within the track listing, and although it works as an individual track, it feels a little out of place on the album. Stagecoach don’t let their reputation for rampaging indie-rock get in the way of ‘Video Shop’, which is an surprisingly open and low-key ending, which helps the album pleasantly fade out rather than be lost in chaos.

The fear would be that a band would stop trying after ten years. When Stagecoach were formed, Newcastle United were in the Champions League and everyone was feeling unsure about the release of The Matrix Reloaded. But they’ve come through all that to produce an accomplished debut album. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait ten years for the next one.