Feeder - Back to their Best?

I always like a few albums or two to really make a summer. You know the ones, the ones you buy and then intrinsically become part of everything you do that summer - so much so, that when you look back on the memories you have of the period, that record or songs just become the natural soundtrack.

Well last year, I wound up not really having one - unless you count Forty Licks (the Rolling Stones compilation) aside. The big release that I thought might just do it was Green Day's then-new record, 21st Century Breakdown...and we all know what happened there. The first Green Day record I've bought, and then promptly sold on; sort of says it all really.

This year, we could have a surprise candidate in the form of welsh rock 'n' rollers Feeder. Well, I say rock 'n' rollers - they've had an annoying knack in the last few years of putting out a teeny tiny amount of the belting rock 'n' roll we all know they can do really well, and insisting on filling up the rest of their albums with tedious MOR bilge. I'm sorry, I've tried, but I just don't get along with Feeder's quiet stuff.

I was pleasantly surprised then, the other day, when I was with a friend of mine in a bar in Camden, and saw a billboard for a new Feeder album named 'Renegades'. Upon arriving home, I investigated further, and found out about the ingenious Renegades 'side-project' that Feeder have been running for the last six months or so.

Similar to how Green Day created the Foxboro Hot Tubs, Feeder have actually been touring small venues around the U.K. under the moniker of 'Renegades'. Same band, same members - just a different name. In one fell swoop they sidestep the issue of playing the old Feeder standards, because, well, even though they are Feeder in a sense, at the same time they aren't. They jokingly do play several 'Feeder covers' at their shows, but even these are hardly what you'd call the classic hits - think some of the darker rockers from the early days. The Renegades album that is out right as we speak is essentially the new songs written by the band under the name Renegades...if that makes sense.

Essentially, the vibe emenating from the band and the project is that 'Renegades' is gonna be a return to the old-skool rocking exploits - enough MOR and acoustics, Grant Nicholas fancies turning up to 11 and rocking again. And from the evidence of the two singles - one currently released, one due to be released mid-August - they're sounding like a damn fine outfit once again. The album is on order and should be arriving any day soon...fingers crossed for a new soundtrack to match up to the hot July nights we've got right now :D

First single 'Call Out'



Second single 'Renegades'