The Rotters

The Rotters

Chris George

Let’s put it bluntly – The Rotters are a bad band. Really bad. Not “I hate this because I only listen to The Kooks” bad. Just bad.

The side project of The Horrors’ singer Faris Badwan consists of four members but sounds like a two-piece – this isn’t “stripped-down”, it’s a waste. Minus points for not having a meatier sound.

They sound like a band of petulant fourteen year-olds who just got their hands on a distortion pedal and a copy of “Never Mind the Bollocks”. Minus points for sounding like obnoxious teens with ideas above their station.

At punk’s core (or at least good punk) was a sense of frustration and dissatisfaction at society, the government, the system – there was a genuine revolutionary spirit there, beneath all the bravado and safety pins. Not so with The Rotters – their adolescent side is in full swing on “Family Swim” with dreadful lyrics directly angry at their parents. Sure they could be writing in role, but that doesn’t mean the lyrics have to be shit. Minus points for missing the point of punk.

To their credit, their songs are mercifully short. Plus points for knowing when to stop.

Your humble correspondent hasn’t succumbed to some sort of Daily Mail-style opposition to rock, far from it. The Rotters aren’t offensive in principle (if they mean to be, then further points are deducted), it’s just that they come across as a band of limited ability and delusions of accomplishment.