Despite the intervention of Saturday night television, the finger of fame has always been guided by geographical motivations and it would appear that it is the turn of Northern Ireland – and Belfast in particular – to provide the raw materials for success in the music business.
Tip your hat therefore to Rocket Propelled Gorillas. Their electro rock – a genre usually unsuccessful outside of Italy – songs have the mark of chart success stamped upon them. The riffs are there, there are attitude filled female vocals from Jordan Catterson and, lest you forget that this is what gets Joe Public humming along, hooks aplenty with “On My Knees” rocketing out of dry dock just like it had been launched with a bottle of finest French champagne. The power pop is where it is at in “Take It To Me” and, if you fancy a journey back to the eighties to see The Expressos, this is the song that is destined to keep your memories company. “Reprimand”, in comparison with the other two songs, does seem more pedestrian as if it had been deliberately conceived as a B side.
There are a lot of good bands making some noise in Northern Ireland these days and it is safe to say the Rocket Propelled Gorillas can be added to that ever expanding list.
This three track EP is available from Bandcamp.