Criminal Records #5

'Long Way' - Rootjoose

Once again, I'm going to pass the buck. Upon arriving at university in September 1997, I made the acquaintance of a young gentleman named Dave who introduced me and my associates to a band from the West Country called Rootjoose. They were friends of his, you see, and over the course of the year he arranged for them to come up and play at the university on a couple of occasions. Although they were undoubtedly a lovely bunch of lads, and although their gigs made some semblance of sense when heavily intoxicated and flailing around the students' union bar, it must be said that in the cold harsh light of day what the world really didn't need was a pub funk version of Reef attempting to compensate for a lack of earthy sexuality by gurning a lot and wearing an assortment of wacky and brightly-coloured hats. To make matters worse, the B-side to the single 'Long Way' was, I think, 'The Paradiddle Song', named after a drumming technique. Still, their cover of 'Taxman' by The Beatles wasn't quite as atrocious as it might conceivably have been.