Pete WiseA lot of us York-born-and-bred types could be forgiven for thinking Who Shot Bené? is simply an intriguing and slightly alarming question, when in reality it’s also the name of a gutsy indie/rock band making commercial guitar music that’s somewhere between Ash and The Music in terms of genre, and doing so in our fair city. Originally from Bishop Auckland and currently studying at York St John’s, this band has been beavering away right under our noses in studenty bars such as Keystones, which strikes me as a fitting setting for their brash, good-times pop rock.
Energy is this band’s strength. If you ever go to see them expect an animated live show led by a dynamic frontman and some tight indie-disco drumming a la Wombats. As far as the songs are concerned the influences at play seem to be drawn mainly from late nineties and early noughties mainstream guitar music, with lots of distorted-yet-cosily-familiar guitar sounds and lad-rock aesthetics characterising the bulk of their output.
There are also some gloomier Interpol-aping moments in some songs which I find pretty enjoyable. Basically their music sounds like something that might have been played on the ground floor of The Gallery circa-2007. If that’s your kind of thing then you and Who Shot Bene will get on like a house on fire. Their EP is available to the interested ear here.
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