Brighton Dome, 25th March

Ruislip’s Scouting for Girls self-titled debut album has just gone platinum which is somewhat of a rare occurrence in this era of the download-heavy commerce. XYZ’s Nats Spada ventured down to Brighton Dome to see why the three-piece are causing such an indie-pop ruckus in the charts, selling out shows across the country.

I scoped out the crowd tonight at the Dome and find that it’s extremely diverse; families, thirty-something Radio 1 listeners, and the regulation clusters of excitable teenagers. Most of my friends have the impression that Scouting For Girls are teenagers but this is not the case; I’d definitely say they are, at least, in their late twenties. I think what makes the band sound so youthful are their simple, good-feeling lyrics; frontman Roy Stride introduces their second song ‘Fitter In Your Myspace Picture’ by saying that “This was written about a friend who met a girl on the internet who didn’t look like her photograph…”

It’s incredible to think a year ago this band played to 12 people in The Queen’s Head. Tonight they played a sold-out show at Brighton Dome to almost two thousand fans who sung along to every song, and I mean every song. I couldn’t help but enjoy the Bond theme tune played before they launched into ‘I Wish I Was James Bond’ with Roy singing “kissing all the girls, blow the bad guys away…” From the reaction of the screaming girls at the front of the stage, I’d guess that his boyhood dreams are now coming true’.

Their final song ‘She’s So Lovely’ got the crowd jumping up and down like crazy animals. Scouting For Girls are not the most inspiring band you are likely to hear, and probably won’t be releasing records in ten year’s time, but they sure know how to write catchy pop tunes with a British twist.

Words by Nats Spada
Photos by Paul Mulley