The Substitutes
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This can’t be right… a band that sounds this fantastic when the combined age of their members doesn’t come close to that of Mick Jagger. The Substitutes are four lads from Lincolnshire – Zaine Lamont on vocals (14yrs old), Matt Welsh on guitar (13), Aidan Betts on bass (12) and Connor Whiteley (12) on drums.
http://www.myspace.com/wereonlyyoung
Now if you’ve not yet listened to their MySpace player and you’ve just read the opening paragraph above you’re probably thinking “Come on Chris, I know you like to be positive about bands but surely you’re going too far.” Just have a listen – they really are incredible.
They write their own songs and perform covers too. They also gig and whenever their local station Lincs FM needs live bands for roadshows they’re the first on the list. Lincs FM is the biggest commercial station in the area too so that speaks volumes.
Their first song on their MySpace player is “Media Attraction” and starts off a little like a Joy Division song but it soon becomes apparant that this is very Arctic Monkeys meets The Jam. I actually prefer Zaine’s voice to Alex Turner’s from the Monkey’s as I feel there is more listenability and for 14 years of age I can only imagine how good he is going to sound in a few years.
There are no pretentions here either. Every member works their part perfectly and with such professionalism that it’s only going to be a matter of time before they’re snapped up by a major indie label – trust me, I can just tell.
There is a great cover of the Undertones classic “Teenage Kicks” on their player as well.
They are well worth checking out. I think we’ll be hearing more from them in the not too distant future.
