Grey Hairs – F.S.D.T. / Cheerful / Forehead

Originally published in LeftLion magazine.

Although they started as more of a side-project than a serious concern, Grey Hairs have almost unwittingly turned into one of the hottest acts in town, proving there’s often a lot more mileage in happy accidents than carefully laid masterplans. Hard on the heels of their One Hundred Breakfasts EP – a collection of early-days demos, available for free from Bandcamp – this three-track 7-incher showcases the band at their primitive, brutal, smart-plays-dumb best. If you’ve ever seen them live, then lead track F.S.D.T. (“Fuck Shack Darts Tournament” – don’t ask) is the one that will have stuck in your memory. It starts on a single chord, and stays there for what feels like forever, building the tension while singer James/The Cup screams something about “treble twenties” (that’ll be the darts, then) and “waiting for the pain to stop”. Thus, when the second chord finally arrives, it feels – momentarily, at least – like the most thrilling moment in music, ever.