aaamusic | On 13, Dec 2010

London, 9th December

London indie-rockers Wheels celebrated their single launch party at the Queen of Hoxton on Thursday night.  With a sound that is more than a little reminiscent of the more upbeat indie music of the mid 90’s, Wheels got everyone in the crowd energized, dancing and singing along to their tunes as though it were 1997. More than a decade has past since this time yet listening to Wheels you would assume that music hadn’t progressed at all. The problem is that although the band are undoubtedly talented and have demonstrated the capacity to write catchy hooks and pleasant melodies, they offer little in way of originality to the genre (the blatant influences that I could site at this point are endless!) The highlight of the evening was the performance of their debut single Feel Like Me which they closed the set with. The tune has catchy lyrics and a ‘sing-a-long’ vibe, which captured the upbeat mood of the venue. Although Wheels are definitely not bad, everything from the music itself to their style of performance seems a little too derivative. Furthermore, the single itself would seem more apt as a summer release than it does for this time of year. Ultimately it was an enjoyable evening with good support performances from bands including Raydar Vees and Bibelots, but ultimately Wheels showed me nothing I haven’t seen a million times before.

Author: Alice Cuddy