Radar: Showcasing The Best Unsigned Bands

Bands of 2010: The Phantom Band

Thursday, 16 December 2010

Over the next two weeks we're choosing our favourite bands and gigs of 2010. Today Stuart Lewis plumps for the Phantom Band as 2010's finest musical collective...

I seriously doubted the Phantom Band would manage to follow up a record as exciting and original as Checkmate Savage, but they did it in spades with The Wants.

More focused than their debut but no less interesting, the Chemikal-signed group crammed the melodic hooks of 'O Everybody Knows It’s True' with the tribal beats of 'A Glamour' and 'Into the Corn' into a musically diverse near-masterpiece.

National attention beckoned with universally positive reviews in all the big publications and plenty of 6 Music airplay, including an excellent Marc Riley session where Aberdeen FC-supporting Rick Anthony had to endure a ribbing over his team’s recent pasting by Celtic.

It’s only been a few months since the release of The Wants but a lot has been packed into a short space of time. Their year culminated in a triumphant, packed out set in Oran Mor and while Anthony says they’ll just “keep on keeping on and enjoy the free beer while it lasts” bigger gigs surely beckon next year.

The Phantom Band: Official site | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter