Classic Albums: The Cribs – ‘The New Fellas’

For anybody who doesn’t know, I’m a huge Cribs fan. I was a late bloomer, as I joined the party just before they released “In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull”, however this does not change the way I felt about this album the first time it graced my ears.

“The New Fellas” is arguably the Wakefield trios best record to date, due to the rawness the band had at the time but this maturity of how to write a catchy pop song. A common feature in most great albums is the passion they have for what they sing about, and The Cribs choose topics that everyone could relate to and felt strongly about.  The brothers wrote songs about the scene that they had fallen into, the people that surrounded the scene and how they felt they were changing as people, as well as a band. For example “Hey Scenesters” confronted people that felt the need to jump into new scenes to feel relevant, and while the topic of the song was so ballsy, the simple thrashy riff gave the fans something to throw themselves around to.

Now to move onto the music side of the album, this has never really been challenged by any band in this field, because no one can do it like The Cribs. Overtime they’ve developed their very own sound and still continue to run with it. With Ryan’s notable guitar riffs, which could be spotted from a mile away, and their rural vocals the tracks automatically have their own identity and this record confirmed it. Tracks like “We Can No Longer You” and “Hello?Oh…” are completely stripped back and have the bare minimum holding them together, but because of the pure catchiness, they’re so difficult not to be admired.

It would be rude not to speak about “Mirror Kissers” a song that is still regarded as one of the best indie track to date. Once again they pick a topic that can be related to by everyone, hipsters who love themselves, and hipsters are still alive and kicking today. The repatative nature of the song should smell doom, but the attitude brought by the vocals along with its raucous overtones is too much not to admire.

One song that is of an acquired taste,  and is only love by true Cribs fans is “It Was Only Love”, in which you hear Ryan completely let himself go vocally and complete a duet with an accordion, a song which you can sing when you have no wits about you.

Overall the album is ranked as one of my favourites by any band, let alone just The Cribs. After over a thousand plays it still hasn’t lost its shine purely because of the depth to each track, you simply cannot listen once have the song sussed out. Their debut album “The Cribs” put the band out there and will always be highly regarded by die-hard fans, however this album really set themselves apart from any band and proved that they weren’t just your average “indie” band that was going to lose its lust after one album.

Words By Alex Wise @al4563