Band : Tempercalm

Album title : True Novella

Label : Casket/ Copro

Distributor : PHD

Release date : 24/03/2008

Release : CD

Tempercalm was formed in 2003 (1st gig September of same year) and had a lot of member changes (some six people have at one point left the band), but the current line-up consists of singer/ guitarist (and only original founding member) James Mackenzie (formed his first band Haze in 1997, then switched to Surreal in '99, joined Haywire in early 2000 – that band would re-write a Haze song to their more Punky style, live on for two years, and recorded several EPs and one single for the Glass Cheque label – and even started a new band, Electro-Rock act I Am Fire in 2006, which has however been on hiatus since May of the same year. On the side, James started his independent design company Ruptured in 2004. Main goal was to provide bands and musicians with websites and other marketing tools, and eventually lead to Ruptured Recordings, a portable recording solution for bands), bassist Andy Haughton (formerly with The Way Of the Exploding Fist, he joined in September 2007), and drummer Dave Rundell (the band's 3 rd drummer, joined with only two weeks practice time before the band was set to go off on their full Scottish tour in April 2006), who all live(d) in and around the Scottish capital Glasgow.

They recorded their debut EP So Ventura on their own effort and released it in April 2005. One track off that EP ("I Need A Co-Pilot") was used in the 130-track soundtrack of the Xbox 360 video game Saints Row, which ended up selling over 1 ½ million copies in the year since it was released. Of course, national radio picked up on the single release of the track, with dozens of DJs all over the UK occasionally broadcasting the song over the airwaves. Obviously, the game's success brought in a certain flow of cash, which the boys used to record their debut full-length between May and November 2007.

The result is this 12-track, 44 minute album, a collection of some of the band's favourite oldies which were given a work-over, plus an amount of new ones. Their songs are somewhat Poppy to say the least, and if one thing can be said, it's that the bandname was well chosen...because it's reflected in the music, see? It's gutsy modern Rock, riff-driven and anthemic, and thanks to necessary the harmony vocals and catchy melodies, the songs have a uality which will make them ghost around for days on end after a couple of listening sessions. There's a slight touch of Grunge too, but not too much, and some songs even have some strings, piano, and other keyboard or synth sounds and noises, courtesy of James . The boys took enough time to fill everything up to their contentment, which makes one wonder how they're gonna bring the songs in live conditions (as there's not only a couple of guitar overdubs, but also those additional keyboard sounds, you know). The band themselves are not afraid to use terms like "Alternative", "Rock", and "Pop" themselves, so there you are!

Check it out for yourself at myspace.com/tempercalm, where you can listen to the full version of "I Need A Co-Pilot", and a medley of the whole album, as well as watch a total of 6 videos (inevitably, a lot around "I Need A Co-Pilot"). The band's own website tempercalm.com (launched in late February of last) contains slightly longer bits of 5 of the album's songs in its "Music" section, and 4 videos (all of which you already found on their Myspace page) in the...that's right, the "Video" section! Whether you're personally into their music or not, I'm afraid a lot of youngsters dó catch onto the band's fluent songs, and Box Glasgow even went as far as to nominate the band in the "Best Rock" category for the Indie Awards 2008! The guys haven't played thàt many gigs over the years (with a "record" of 14 in the 4 months remaining of 2003 since their live debut, the boys only played 19 gigs in '04, 21 in '05, 13 in '06, and 7 in '07)...but they did take a flying start of the new year, touring in support of the album ahead of its release (sorry if you can't laugh with that little pun there).

Before I forget, the UK will see the release of the first single off the album soon, and it's to include a video (recorded 2 nd weekend of March) for the title track "Big Huff" as well. Meanwhile, check this out...or not!

88/100

Tony.