Bandit – Waster

Rebel-rousing, gritty and dialed all the way up – “Waster”, the first single from this lively 4-piece Indie Rock outfit ‘hailing from the grim up North’ – is simply an unbridled, unforgiving, no-nonsense straight for the gulliver brain bash, that requires a bit of rock n’ roll moxie to pull off – and to appreciate.

From the opening ‘four on the floor’ pattern and brash electric guitar strums, you have the instant understanding that the band named Bandit ain’t mucking about. It’s clear that for these lads, capturing the essence of the live experience was important to the studio recording – where the ebbs and flows of the rhythms coalesce to form an unquantized groove that is quintessentially modern rock ‘n’ roll at its realest.

Following in the lineage of the Stones, and with some of that noticeable swagger too – it is that same groove and rhythm playing that make it more than just a throwback to the legendary studio reels strewn across Britain in the 60’s. While unmistakably built off the backbone of those great rock records, extending right through the heart of The Kinks and Keith – and shooting past the outstretched limbs of that lineage with more modern examples like The Strokes and The Wombats – THIS rhythm and blues quartet is bringing all the swing and swagger one might expect from a band twice their age.

It is that confidence that finds Bandit stealing all of your attention before a single word of the first verse – ripping into some powerful riffs before opening up to tell the tale of a young man struggling to find his footing while dealing with the aftermath of unrequited love.

The drop into the chorus is Everything, and the stop and start through lines 3 and 4 open things up for their live venues to simply get torn to shreds. There’s a catchy enough hook that will have the audience singing along at lung-destroying decibels, while the band bring the whole thing back for another round. Yo, simply put – they are intent on moving the crowd and this chorus will definitely move ‘em.

The second verse reminds us that sometimes there’s simply no replacement for the thing we covet, allowing it to seem like one day blending into the next and that things don’t quite have the same zest they used to. When it comes to the Liverpool clan here, the bad and good times are truly only beginning. And if this debut is any indication, there will be more good times than bad.

There’s a breakdown singalong section beginning at 2:10 that begs more crowd participation, with some thumping toms expertly added in for drama. Just as you think that’s all, there’s an absolute barn-burner from 2:30 – where the riffs and intensity are brought to a frenetic climax. Leaving no second of the song wasted, the outro explodes with a quick but well-executed solo.

Rather than being a “Waster”, the debut single from Bandit is anything but. Instead, it truly puffs its chest out, declares that it's here, and dares you to deny it. Do yourself a favour – Don’t..!!

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