Monday, September 17

EIOH DELAY//NC TOP 5

The debut release from Electricity In Our Homes, the Shareholders Meeting EP, has been delayed, apparently due to problems at the manufacturing end. Since The New Thing was planning to bring you a review of the release today, we'll fill the gap with...

THE NEW THING's TOP 5 FACTS ABOUT NEiLS CHiLDREN

5// Cool.
John Linger managed to get onto the NME's 'Cool List' in 2004, at number 30. Not so impressive, you may say, but 1// this is NME we're talking about, and 2// he beat Robert Smith by 10 places.

4// Covers. The band have recorded a few cover versions in their time. Apart from their version of Pink Floyd's 'Lucifer Sam' (recorded in one take last year to pay tribute to the late Syd Barrett), they've played an experimental version of 'Tears On My Pillow' (last heard on the Grease soundtrack) and have blended Pink Floyd's 'Interstellar Overdrive', Public Image Ltd.'s 'Poptones', and The Specials' 'Ghost Town' in a live medley called 'Popthings'.

3// Name. A source of controversy. While some say the band are named after 1960s proto-punks John's Children (who are best known nowadays for featuring a young Marc Bolan), the band have also claimed that 'Neil' is an everyday, average name, and that 'Neil's Children' refers to middle-class suburb-dwellers in general. You choose your favourite meaning.

2// Bassists. The band have had no less than three since their foundation in 1999. The first, Tom Hawkins, left after a year and became a sound engineer for pop-punk band The Subways. His replacement, James Hair (who regrettably didn't really live up to his name that well) left due to musical differences in December 2005, and now plays in a jazz-punk band called Vile Imbeciles. Keith Seymour, who took up the role after this departure, had played for post-rock group Hope Of The States before joining the Children.

1// Genres. The Children are more genre-bending than people credit them with. While nowadays they play gothic post-punk, they're most famous (thanks to their best-known song, 'I Hate Models') as snotty punks. But before that, they were definitively Mod freakbeaters - unreleased songs from their aborted first album, 'Demand the Impossible', sound more like The Who than anyone else.

There's a lot more to say about the Children, but it'll have to wait for now. I'm off to change my needle and wait for The Shareholders Meeting. More Top 5 Facts coming soon for your delectation and interest.

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