George Jeffery’s A beginner’s guide to post-hardcore #7

A few of you may remember an article which appeared in Felix Music last term about a trampy man who played an acoustic gig on a boat. Well this man is about to have his Imperial fame replenished as this week I acquaint you with UK post-hardcore masterminds Meet Me In St. Louis.

The band, fronted by aforementioned trampy man, Tobias Hayes, are once again from Surrey, and after forming in 2005 only had a very short lifespan of 3 years. Despite their massively premature demise, Meet Me In St. Louis are loved so dearly within the UK independent music scene that they even have a day dedicated to them (24th September, the day their debut album was released) so everyone can remember how amazing they were. This widespread affection for the band is completely justified and I can quite proudly say that they are possibly the best band I’ve ever laid ears on (not literally, don‘t be trying any funny business).

As you may have noticed, their name has been stolen from an old American musical and this theme continues with every one of their tracks being titled after lines from films (10 points if you know which films they’re all from). But moving on to the more important matter: their music. Meet Me In St. Louis have an absolutely unique sound and it truly is incredible to witness. They get the mixture of sliding mathy riffs and intense breakdowns absolutely perfect and then incorporate continually changing time signatures to keep you on your toes. As musicians, the members of this band will not fail to amaze you. It’s very rare to listen to a track that the bass part catches you doing some air-bass but bassist Lewis Reynolds has well and truly made a slapper out of me (not like that, I meant as in slapper of the bass – the guitar, not the fish).

I don’t mean to undermine the other members of the band; believe me, after listening to MMISL you will be a master of the air-everything. Their debut (and only) album Variations On Swing is essential to your life and is by far one of the best pieces of post-hardcore I’ve heard. So go get your filthy hands on it, check out the recommendation and see you all next week!

Writer’s Recommendation

Listen to ‘All We Need is a Little Energon and a Lot of Luck’ (that’s a quote from the old Transformers, by the way).