Brigade are a four piece rock band, who hail from London. The band have been together since 2003,

and have just released the double A side single ‘Sink, Sink, Swim’/ ‘Stunning’ from their second album ‘Come Morning We Fight.’

The first track ‘Sink, Sink, Swim’ is

not a majorly memorable song but shows the band has definite promise. The lead man Will Simpson has quite a good voice, which is not unsimilar to his brother Charlie Simpson, the singer from Busted and later Fightstar. However, the single is very similar to a lot of other bands on the music scene at the moment. I was really surprised to find out that Brigade are actually a British rock band, because I thought they sounded American. Unfortunately I think this is just a case of them trying to sound like

an American band, and this is disappointing because a British band should sound exactly that; British.

Track two ‘Stunning’ didn’t stun me at all. It didn’t manage to sway my opinion too much, and I thought it was a bit similar to the first, but perhaps a little more pop sounding that rock. I could only remember one lyric in the end – “What does it feel like, what does it feel like, the weight of the world” – and that was only because it kept getting repeated. However, the band do know their stuff when it comes to guitars, and there are some decent riffs to listen out for.

Brigade reminded me of American band Fall Out Boy, but I just don’t think their music is as lyrically strong or has the ability to make such an impact on the listener. It seems a shame that they have been together since 2003, and were probably producing this music before a lot of other bands came on to the scene, that Brigade may now fall into the shadow of other British rock bands. That said I think that Brigade will still do well, as their music is likeable and they obviously love what they do. The band has already gained a loyal fan base, and I really do hope they can make the big time.

As I said before, I think Brigade have the raw potential to be a great, great rock band, but in my opinion they need to produce something really amazing to set them aside from all the other competition which is so similar to them.