When Matt Bishop was five, he recorded his first song on a Fisher Price cassette player and pretty much predetermined the course of the rest of his life. A child of Britpop, consuming as much Blur as he could get his hands on while other kids were grabbing for soccer cleats-”They were sort of my Beatles,” Matt gushes-all he needed was a supporting cast to make his rock n’ roll fantasy a reality. Using the power of the Internet-or University of Surrey’s Intranet as the case may be-Matt circulated a posting around campus looking for musicians and essentially blind-dated his way straight to the Switches. “I always wanted to be called something short and simple, not a pretentious name,” he says, and since the newly assembled foursome, rounded out by Ollie Thomas, Thom Kirkpatrick and Steve Godfrey couldn’t decide on a name, switching from gig to gig, they ultimately settled on the one, obvious solution to their problem. It’s to this guileless air that Switches’ sound also subscribes. Anchored in the homegrown heritage of the UK’s post (and post post) punk bands, their music is couched in jagged guitar riffs, boot-stomping beats, and unironic lyrics, with an unmistakable nod to American garage and indie rock thrown in for good measure (Bishop unapologetically admits to an affinity for Weezer’s “poppy hooks and cool guitar solos”). For Lay Down The Law, the band’s debut LP, they enlisted producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith, The Vines) resulting in a handful of anthemic love songs punctuated with catchy, hard-edged melodies-chart toppers for your consideration, from the ’60s-sappy vibe in “Stephanie” (on the b-sides) to the marching vocals on the title track, which will make you want to dance the way Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” did. But don’t get too comfortable with the Switches in their current incarnation. Just as they’re getting situated with audiences Stateside, the nature of their namesake might be rearing its ugly head. “I really like what Damon [Albarn] is doing with the Gorillaz,” Matt says. “I think it’s cool-the hip hop vibes and the electronica influence…It’s kind of where I’m headed.” Keeping us on our toes, eh? We’ll be waiting with baited breath.
SAMANTHA GILEWICZ
http://www.myspace.com/weareswitches
http://www.switchesmusic.net
