Hopeless Heroic – 'Mechanical Lions' (EP)
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At the height of the swinging sixties, a sixteen year old schoolboy named Frank Abagnale Jr would fraudulently tear his way through the United States posing as, amongst other things, an Airline Pilot, Pediatrician and General Attorney cashing an estimated $2.5 million in forged cheques before his eventual arrest in 1969. The reason for Abagnale’s impostering was to escape the escalating domestic disputes brought on by his parent’s bitter divorce. Fast forward nearly thirty five years to 2003 and an aspiring hip hop enthusiast from Dundee called Gavin Bain. Bain would try his hand at rap stardom within his local community only to be mocked for spitting Scottish-tinged rhymes before being cruelly written-off as a ‘pimpin’ Proclaimer’. Not to be deterred, the determined MC formed an urban duo entitled ‘Silibil ‘n’ Brains’ and decided the only way they would be taken seriously was by pretending to be a couple of college drop-out crunkers from the West Coast. A plan was soon concocted with the agreement to employ faux American accents whilst claiming they were close friends of mainstream heavyweights such as Eminem and D12. As their scheme caught fire, the two twenty-something tricksters somehow found themselves inking a record deal with Sony following thrilling performances throughout the UK and became the centre of Britain’s underground freestyle scene. This upturn in fortune would lead to appearances on MTV and parties with Madonna racking up over £200,000 expenses in the process. Eventually, the constant pressure of hoodwinking an entire industry would destroy the daring duo, imploding their friendship and causing a downward spiral that would conclude with a penniless Bain twice attempting suicide. It would appear though that sometimes crime DOES pay, as with Abignale, who had his prison sentence considerably slashed to help the FBI catch credit card crooks, Bain’s story has been chronicled in a new book titled ‘California Schemin’ that has already been picked up by Irvine Welsh for a silver screen adaptation. The other constant in Bain’s remarkable rebirth is his new band Hopeless Heroic, a ferocious five-piece that he hopes will restore his reputation as a credible recording artist.
Swapping the rap for rock, ‘Mechanical Lions’ re-introduces a focused Bain who has embraced numerous diverse elements and incorporated these influences into his previously limited template. ‘Guinea Pig Syndrome’ and ‘You Got What You Deserved’ offer driving rhythms offset against dribbling riffery indicating the highest of hopes for the quintet’s upcoming full length effort. ‘Blindly Apparent’ boasts the most distinctive blueprint of Bain’s ‘trick’ hop past and ‘Biting Nails and Watching Clocks’ succeeds through a flourish of dramatic violin assisted violence. Rather disturbingly, Bain’s vocal delivery still appears to be deeply rooted in Americana, mimicking the ever popular emo range and at times falling into Tyson Ritter territory, perhaps commanding validation for his motives of fronting an alternative Rock band. That said, this born again barricuda has quite possibly orchestrated the last great Rock n’ Roll swindle in drumming up any form of intrigue in the first instance.
