British Sea Power

Can This Band Save Rock and Roll?

words by Elliot Cole
photos by Victor Yiu

Our canonization of the rock and roll quintessence can be relatively narrow, formulaically structured around the reckless abandon of Guns N Roses or, in more modern terms, the bulging, unnervingly tight leather pants of The Darkness. As a culture, we adore the explosive/implosive exchange firing inside the neurons of our celebrity rockers, eagerly awaiting word of the next trashed hotel room or publicized drug addiction. We want our rock stars to be volatile and unscrupulous, with egos matched only by their unruly, product-saturated hair. Trent Reznor did it in his heroin-fueled Downward Spiral days; Keith Richard has made a 30-year career out of it. These unavoidable clichés make British Sea Power’s new disc, Do You Like Rock Music?, all the more important. The lads in British Sea Power don’t exist within the predetermined constitution of the traditional rock mold: instead, they defy our stereotypes, offering an album that is set to expand our landscape and broaden our perspective on what this genre is, and what it represents.