My Boy/My Girl ‘I Think Of Tron’

Having looked at our visitor stats, you will both already know that I live in Norfolk, UK not Virginia, although I imagine they’re not world apart. I moved back here in 2002 and I have to say it’s quite odd returning to live in a place you grew up. You have perceptions that are quite hard to shift. Not least about the music scene. Nowhere is quite as cool as somewhere you’re not. Norwich? Move along please, nothing to see here.

So I was at the very fine Norwich Arts Centre last week to see a friend’s new photo exhibition – the fabulously titled ‘Stills From The Unmade Film Of A Half-Written Novel’. If you live nearby I can recommend a quick squint. Anyway, I do like to pick at piles of listings mags on my way out and always enjoy ‘Burrowing’, the properly old school fanzine by promotion legends Wombat Wombat.

I’m getting to the point now. Honestly I am, hang in there. ‘Burrowing’ is where I discovered Hot City Sounds 09, the second annual outing of a musical extravaganza that’s splattered across the City from July 3-11. Now this may be of no interest to anyone else, but I’ve been working my way through the list of over 130 bands playing the eight venues, and blimey, there is some proper talent coming out Norwich. Proper.

Join me if you will for a few posts where I point in the direction of the festival highlights. IMHO, natch. First up, the rather brilliant, self-proclaimed laziest band in Norwich, My Boy/My Girl. One boy, Nelly, and one girl Nai. They sound like legends already don’t they? You wait until you hear them. They are as rough and ready as it comes, so raw a doctor would prescribe cream for it, but the racket they make is an utterly fabulous one, for proof wrap your flapping ears round the carnagerous ‘Superman’ on their MS. The influence is so obvious so I won’t bother spelling it out, the promise they show is equally obvious to anyone with ears.

What’s best is that underneath all the bluster these two just drip in melody, and as you can hear from ‘I Think Of Tron’, they can clearly clock a tune, effortlessly, at 100 paces. Think how Idlewild gentled up from their spiky debut ‘Captain’ and that’s what we’re staring into the face of with My Boy/My Girl.

Quite possibly the most exciting new band you’ve never heard of? Now, if they can cut it live…

More hear…
- The MySpace, then
- Catch them live at the Hot City Sounds launch party at NAC on July 3. Doors at 8pm, tickets are £5 on the door. I will be buying two.