SPOTLIGHT ON: Missing Andy - Generation Silenced (2012)
I'm beyond excited to be shooting/reviewing the Missing Andy gig at Ipswich Smokehouse this Friday (November 11th) and wanted to take a brief retrospective look back at how I discovered the band and put the spotlight on their sensational debut album "Generation Silenced" ahead of what I know is going to be an incredible show!
I first discovered the band on Sky 1's Must be the Music in around 2010, a show where all the artists had to perform original songs (not the karaoke bollocks of The Voice or all the other crappy cover version shows), they finished 2nd losing out to Emma's Imagination but the couple of tracks they performed were enough to have me hooked. I saw them live in a tiny venue somewhere like Milton Keynes not long after then they just vanished from my listening and I'm really not sure why. Fast forward more than a decade, and an email from Bandsintown promoting their upcoming gigs put them firmly back on my radar and I’ve been obsessed ever since! Clocking up some 270 listens in about a month.
‘Generation Silence’ is a brash, brutally honest record full of working class anthems and laddish Essex boy charm.
Musically it is energetic, melodic with belting indie guitars, catchy hooks, epic drums and captivating keys. A perfect noise to make you want to grab your mates and rock out, if that’s in a scuzzy indie bar complete with sticky floor and snakebite in hand even better!
The records themes range from the comradery and working class pride of 'The Way We’re Made’ to stark reality of how the upper classes look down their noses at the jobless and those in power mess up the country then sit back in their ivory towers while everyone else struggles in the sensational ‘Scum’.
‘Indie Kid’ offers a tongue in cheek jab at, er, indie kids. You know the ones who brand bands sellouts just because they achieve fame and religiously follow what NME tells them even if they don't believe in it.
‘Kings for the Weekend’ portrays the notion of mindlessly going through the week like a preprogrammed zombie and only becoming real at the weekends. ‘Dave’ whilst incredibly funny also offers a look at how a tumultuous upbringing can result in life heading down a route of casual sex, benefits and being written off by society rather than helped to achieve.
The record also tackles more heartfelt subjects such as mental health and feelings of hopelessness which can be heard in ‘In a State’ and the beautiful ‘Sunshine’ which sees Alex’s vocals change from likely-lad to emotionally charged, it's a thing of sombre beauty that gives me chills every time.
It's an all round masterpiece of a record, every track and anthem. Missing Andy are one of the most sincere, authentic bands you’ll ever hear. They’re a band for the masses, giving a voice to the underdog, the downtrodden and anyone who feels life has dealt them a rough hand.
You need to hear Generation Silenced, it's an absolute gem from a band who are criminally underrated!
They recently released single ‘Put It All On Me’ their first new music since 2020 which sees them take on a heavier sound, the track is a belting rock anthem that needs to be played loud!
To end, this lyric from the end of scum says it all. Relevant in 2012, even more relevant today:
“Christ, how long are you gonna keep pointing the same fingers at us? Painting us with the same old brush, same old story. How about taking a look at yourself. Wake up and smell the coffee you bunch of ignorant mugs. Cause and effect, you messed it up we're now living in it….cheers”
Bonus Video because its too fucking funny not to be shared!
