Blacklight Pioneer

The moment Matt Bellamy’s strafing guitar first burst across Muse’s debut album Showbiz... Or the point at which Richard Butler eased himself into the path of The Psychedelic Furs’ initial signature song, Sister Europe... Each announced the arrival of a great British rock band. It’s been a while since we heard the like, hasn’t it? Blacklight Pioneer is a band belonging to that tradition. The scale of their ambition is grand. Their sound is as big. Their sense of timing could be perfect: because right now there is a gaping void to be filled by a rock band that is big and bold and unapologetic about being so. Says guitarist Jay Thompson: “There isn’t anything out there like us at the moment. It seems people are afraid of embracing being a rock band. Well, we aren’t. We are a rock band. But a modern, fresh one.” “Our aim all along,” notes vocalist Adam Fowkes, “has been to do something different to everything else we’re hearing.” The first result of their labours is Absence And Ecstasy – Blacklight Pioneer’s debut six-track mini-album. It is a statement of intent. The epic sweep of opening track Porcelain... The insistent melodies and towering chorus of This Is Goodbye... The stabbing urgency of Wasted Love... This is music purpose-built for the big stage. It is music, too, that is gripped by a sense of vision and spirit. “I see us as an arena band,” concludes Jay Thompson, laying down the Blacklight Pioneer manifesto. “But with the attitude of Black Flag.” Paul Rees