Small town – big ideas!
It's easy to once again focus onto the unimportant things like the fact that these South London punksters have only just turned sixteen, however as the phenomenal punk talents of the even younger band Outl4w have shown, along with the well coined phrase from deceased R'n'B star Aliyah, age is but a number.
So with 'Small Town Theory' Linchpin have an EP that has great commercial potential without dripping with syrupy harmonies and sophomoric lyrics. First song, 'High Life' sounds as though it's going to be slow, however as the bass and drums thump in with a mid tempo, we have a song with thick riffs, that build up to a great song. I can't help but think of Good Charlotte, even though Joey Cass has a totally different and yet distinctive voice of his own. It's therefore easy to see that 'Can't Explain' is their first single release, with an addictive chorus that has a catchiness of a heavier Simple Plan, covering a Feeder track.
As 'All I Want' sits somewhere between the first two songs, 'Hypochondriac' is so different that you'll stop whatever you are doing to listen. Starting with a seventies riff, it slams out a verse of punchy lyrics that is almost chanted. Clocking in at a little under two minutes, it's a short, sharp jolt of alternative rock/punk with a chorus that reminds me of the ill-fated Violent Delight.
EP title track, 'Small Town Theory' gives us another mid tempo tune with light melodies in a great bridge between guitar driven indie and slightly more commercial emo/punk. Last song 'Artists And Raptors' gets more catchy with each listen and has the anthem growing abilities of a hit, and it wouldn't surprise me to see this as the next single release.
As stated, Linchpin fit so perfectly between a handful of genres that this will be the springboard for their success. Some bands try to do a cross-genre thing and find that they don't touch enough on anything, and although you could argue that Linchpin do this, what they do succeed at is pulling all of the genres together and producing songs that are very accessible to lovers of the current chart-friendly rock.
Many people including members of both Good Charlotte and Foo Fighters have expressed their interest in Linchpin, with Rocksound suggesting that they are "...Foo Fighters meets Silverchair with a helping of teen pop...".
It's a cliché to say 'watch this space', so I won't say it, but I think you know what I'm getting at...