Who is JC? And why does he/she/it want revenge? What form of revenge is this going to take? Who is the revenge against? And should we call the police?

Quite Good:

Although I can answer none of those questions, I can tell you that JC's Revenge are quite good. Their press release tells us that the band has been together using "various names and forms for a few years" and that they come from Cheltenham.

Nevermind...

And then it happens. They use the "N" word: Another band in a long list of bands who have wittingly or unwittingly referenced Kurt Cobain's band. The Penance have done it. Abcess have done it. More recently Apache Rose have done, and despite their protests to the contrary, so have The Holloh.

While Nirvana truly were an excellent band, there comes a time when you tire of the fact that every other band you come across is trying to ape the Seattle sound. I was never great friends with the man, but I'm sure Kurt wouldn't have wanted it that way.

All You Need is Songs From Northern Freak Magnets:

So, perhaps it is just as well that JC's Revenge have lied to us. They don't really sound too much like Nirvana at all. True, there's a fair bit of grunge-y winging here and there, but comparisons would be better made with bands like the Delgados, Teenage Fanclub, the Violent Femmes and maybe, just maybe, the Ramones.

Daphne is a Punk Rocker:

The Ramones thing is most obvious in JC's Revenge's demo opener "Daphne Blake", a musical tribute to the Scooby Doo character. "We're slipping and sliding/but her only reaction/is laughing and smiling". You wouldn't find lyrics like that on In Utero, now, would you? But on Rocket to Russia? Now that would be a different story.

In a kind of "seven degrees of separation" divergence, you could almost imagine Daphne's alter ego's alter ego dancing to the track at The Bronze on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Issues:

"Don't Say It's Over" is a strong bass riff heavy track that is bound to fill the floor. Despite the dance friendly tune, the lyricist has got issues with someone or other:

"Can't talk about it/How I feel about it/but you gotta know/I won't let you in/just push you away/cos you hurt me more each day." Hopefully whoever the song is aimed at got the message.

Love Letters from the Band:

One of the strongest songs on the demo is "Memories of Her". It may be another one of those adolescent whines about failed relationships, but this time, you are less inclined to cringe.

Perhaps that is because there is more than a nod to Soul Asylum's "Runaway Train" here. There's a decent guitar motif running through the song for a start, and the lyrics have been given more than just a little thought.

The song is about someone looking through some old love letters. The poor bloke's just been dumped by his girlfriend for his doppelgänger ("her boyfriend looked like me/I guess she's stuck on the same track"). You've got to feel for him.

Why Do Nice Girls Hate Me (Again)?

More whining can be found in "Someone Special". Again it's a teenage lament about being lonely, dejected and longing for Miss Perfect to come along, but it's a fairly decent lament about being lonely, dejected and longing for Miss Perfect to come along.

There's a good tuneful harmony, a fantastic wandering bass line and good drumming. It's a thoroughly likeable, if slightly fey song. There's hope and despair running through it in equal amounts, resulting in something approaching beauty. It has something that most songs like this don't, and it's all the better for it.

JC's Revenge are far from being a perfect band. In particular Mike Green and Sam Christie's voices are perhaps a little too gentle to deal with some of the more aggressive sounding tunes - imagine Stuart Murdoch heading The Clash and you'll see what I mean.

Venue-less:

But despite all this, we have here a great band. JC's Revenge claim they are currently suffering from a "lack of live musical venues", despite playing across the country. Hopefully their luck will soon change.

They are a band who could do with being heard.

17/02/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire on this link