Reviews

Brakes at Academy 3

Brakes

What do Brakes have to do to break out into the big time? On this performance, it’s hard to say what more they can do. With madcap lunacy and furious intent, Brakes storm into songs about love, life and everything in between.

Some songs only last a few seconds but are about American foreign policy (Cheney), the joys of punctuation (Comma Comma Comma Full Stop) or those annoying folk who to prefer to chat at gigs rather than listen to the band (Hi, How Are You).

The longer songs take in everything from broken hearts to the stupidity of the war in Iraq. Whether short or long, lead singer Eamon Hamilton is a man whose jaw-dropping, eye-popping intensity has you believing every word of every song.

With heart-stopping noise provided by the rest of Brakes, it doesn’t take much for you to believe that one day Brakes will be considered one of the great indie bands of the Noughties. Let’s hope it happens now rather than when their sensational back catalogue is reissued in 20 years time.