Sissy And The Blisters

"Us going on to the X Factor would be like entering a cat in to a dog show," says Sissy and The Blisters guitarist and ivory-tinkler Nick Benton about participating in ITV's weekly circus of freaks and fantasists. This is kind of a shame because if bands like Sissy did go on the X Factor I wouldn't have to spend my Saturday nights watching Seinfeld re-runs. But whilst the likes of Joe Mcelderry put the 'talent' in 'talent show' you'll have to look further than prime time Saturday night for a real music fix like this.

If you listen to the demos on Sissy and the Blisters' myspace you will hear a proper band bashing out raucous tracks with a fresh-feeling nod to some of music’s greats. ‘Gangs of Three’ is a fast-paced canter of scratchy vocals and Doors-esque shimmy, something which appears again in ‘Mystics’ before the track becomes a mash up of thrashing guitars and shouty vocals. The band’s debut single ‘Things May Change’ is out on 1 November on Hit Club Records and has the component parts of what seems intended to become the band's signature noise - Vox Continental keyboard sound and raw, punchy vocals.  The band cite their influences as "anything from 60's pop and garage, to modern lo fi music" and their songs all have a heavy focus on melodies and unfussy, clunky rhythms - "production-wise we try to keep it sounding as sparse and raw as possible," they say.

Live, they are chaotic, exciting, unexpected and brimming with relentless energy: "the set is usually fairly short and as we don't leave any gaps between songs the performance feels like one quick burst of mayhem." You can see evidence of the same in their visuals - the video for 'The Wolf' is a grainy black and white affair with a moving camera capturing the band performing clad in leather and chanelling bands 50 years their seniors.  “The reason we use black and white in the majority of our visuals is to reflect the simplicity and basic form of our music. It fits our idea of stripping things back to absolute basics."

The band are fiercely down to earth and won't tolerate allegations that they are 'in the music business.'  They claim to have no groupies ("we're not Guns n Roses") and are keen to hold on to their 'new band mystique' by avoiding giving straight answers to pedestrian questions.  It’s only when you get them onto the subject of their music that you get a real, honest response and anything bordering on enthusiasm.  Unlike Joe Mcedlderry and his airbrushed kind, SATB just seem to want to talk about what they love to do - and what they’re good at.  And that's the music.


'The Wolf' - Sissy And The Blisters from Bennycrime on Vimeo.