So, I was down in Nottingham on Saturday night to see the much-hyped Hadouken. In fairness, I am rather fond of their debut single, 'That Boy That Girl', and in paticular its low budget video, shown below. As their second single, 'Liquid Lives', continues to grow on me, I had an open mind, expecting a full on barrage of "fluokids" and "nu-rave" alongside some relentlessly pounding basslines, synth injections, and vocal shouts. Ah, how wrong I was... After giving away 3 of the 4 free tickets I'd been sent to poor ticketless fans outside, and then pressing the damp stamp mark on my wrist against some other hands, to ensure free entry for even more people, I made my way in to the venue... Rescue Rooms is a pretty fab place, in all honesty. One of the best small venues I've been to. Narrow, yet inclusive, with a good cheap bar, etc... As I entered, Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst In To Flames were just wrapping up their support slot, which, judging from the last couple of songs, was a pretty blinding mix of imaginative drumming, melodic yet angerful vocals, and the inevitable synths... Certainly music with more depth than what was about to asail me.

Hadouken took to the stage in a audio flury of shouts and whistles from the eager fans in the front row and burst straight into a vocal assault on my eardrums, backed up by some horribly out of sync synth and guitar. As I endured the first few songs (including upcoming single Liquid Lives) I struggled to understand the appeal behind a band so chaotic and uncharismatic, so lacking in instrumental skill, yet boasting widespread support from the musical press. Can it all really come down to the NME and its grip on "popular" music? As a pretty short set drew to a close, and I was buffeted by the hordes of bouncing teenagers pressed against the barriers, singing 'That Boy That Girl' back word for word at the baseball capped lead singer, I began to realise that maybe, I was missing the point. Maybe Hadouken aren't about instrumental flashes of genius, or any paticular lyrical observations. Maybe "the kids" like them because of the raw energy evident in their admitedly infectious live show which I had just witnessed. Whichever way my opinion falls on their live act, Hadouken are a band that can, on record, capture that energy of 200 teenagers jumping around in a room for no reason in paticular. They write words that are easy to shout at the top of your voice. And surely, these are all the things that you want in a good party song? To me, Hadouken are just fun, like some kind of in-joke that turned out to actually exist.

Thanks to the kind Our Iron Lung reader who gave a me a lift home... Here's the 'That Boy That Girl' video for everyones enjoyment...

[MP3] Hadouken - That Boy That Girl - Buy here.
[MP3] Bloc Party - The Prayer (Hadouken Remix)
[MOV] Hadouken - That Boy That Girl