CityLife

Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong @ Academy 3

IT'S not often a band are victims of their own hype after releasing just one single, but the backlash against Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong has already begun in earnest.

It is easy to see why. Singer Joe Lean, he of celebrity girlfriend, TV stardom and boyish good looks, has rubbed people up the wrong way.

Despite claims to the contrary, the Jing Jang Jong are perceived as merely hired hands geared towards inflating Joe Lean's sense of self-importance; as a result the public, who it must be said would normally lap this stuff up, have been largely turned off.

So it is with trepidation I approach the Academy 3 tonight. As the Jing Jang Jong stride on dressed as if in completely different bands, the realisation of how awful this could be hits home.

Yet rumbling bass, clattering drums and frenzied guitars immediately strike up, and the overwhelming sense is that maybe you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Five minutes later, with Joe Lean still to appear, something approaching excitement can be felt; can JL&TJJJ defy all common sense?

Poser

Alas, no. Whilst not the poser, sub-Razorlight train wreck it had the potential to become, it very rarely sets the pulse racing to any degree. Joe Lean pulls the right moves at the right times, all cheekbones, poses and perfectly chic hair, but not even his rock-manual inspired manoeuvres mask the evident lack of depth to the majority aired.

That most of the material is undeniably similar is not so much the problem (it did the Ramones no harm after all), it's just the repeated trick already seems tiresome; hardly an encouraging sign given their debut album is not even out yet.

So 45 minutes of inoffensive indie-rock ensues - think The Libertines minus the edginess - where only Lucio Starts Fires raises its head above the parapet to add any substance to the designer style.

As a vehicle to massage ego, JL&TJJJ are no doubt doing the job. For the rest of us though, it's just not that much fun.

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