Sunday 68

Sunday 68 are a young band from South Shields. They are just starting out having left school and are now struggling with a lack of money. They are Cal on guitar, Dan on bass and vocals and Gav on drums. There are three tracks recorded in a local Community Centre.

Voices In Her Head - great start - thrashed tight guitar, driving drums, and a masterstroke of a guitar motif over the top. The sort of music is similar to the American punk movement of the past 10 years (Green Day et al). All the energy you could ever want.

Sixteen Forever - strummed guitar with some added keyboards. A tale of love lost but not forgotten. Emotional and heart felt but still understated. It's extremely rare I hear a song that actually takes me back to when I first had that uniquely devastating pain.

Try Being Me - shows the band's ability to use dynamics. A quiet start replaced more evidence that we have a guitarist to reckon with. The vocals sound good and the band just put their foot on the sonic accelerator when they feel like it.

You don't need to know the bands ages to realise that is a good demo in any terms. Musically it is very accomplished in every department including composition. Lyrically spot on description of teenage angst - very simple and direct so that it reaches out to everybody without ever being crass or hackneyed. Age is only betrayed in the vocals. Singers need some time to develop their voices. Dan has plenty of potential but I think he needs to train his voice more - singing at full voice with headphones on for monitoring. Also, the band should maybe drop the key of "Voices In Her Head" by 3 or 5 semitones so that it's a more comfortable vocal range. But, that said, it is the singing that really makes the band stand out for me. I hear loads of good musicians every week but rarely hear someone that draws me in and actually touches me.

It is strange hearing a song saying "I wish we could stayed sixteen forever and a day" when you know it is being sung and played by sixteen year olds. But I think they have good reason to look forward to the coming years.