Reviews

- Live review of The Rrrs' single launch at The Fly
The good, the bad... The Rrrs debut single reviews
- a whole list of them (opens in new window)
-My Valentino/Forbidden Kiss review from Toxic Pete (opens in new window)
-My Valentino/Forbidden Kiss review from Street Voice, May 2008
-The Rrrs @ the Colloseum (now Kasbah), Coventry, 23 June 2007
-The Rrrs @ Golden Cross, Coventry, 31 July 2007
-Look Good, Feel Great! EP review
-Godiva Festival Heats, Nuneaton, May 2007
-BBC Cov and Warks - Sounds radio interview, 2006 (external link)
-BBC Cov and Warks - The Rrrs talk to Vic Minett, 2006 (external link)
-BBC Cov and Warks - Oxjamming it in Leamington, Oct 2007 (external link)
-BBC Cov and Warks - Photos of Oxjam (ft. The Ripps & Kalenko), 25 Oct 2007 (external link)

The Rrrs at The Fly, 16 June 2008

By Mike Stephenson Met Sharzilla Moog at the entrance. She's quite the whirling dervish of organisational steam, that one. At any one time she can be seen in several different places at once in the venue, gallivanting around in her technicolour dream coat, squeaking charmingly at how cool everything is. Nevertheless, this is but a fraction of the frenzied kinesis that she and The Rrrs undergo onstage. There is a certain glorious dementia at play here. She sports the beaming ear-to-ear grin and football-sized eyes of someone dangerously high on life, matched by the charged reggae-pop sounds behind her, with syncopated beats and fast, heavily compressed guitars. Not a measure goes by without a cheerful melody or a leaping, staggered glissando to fill it. It is so happy and sweet and full of life that it's almost disconcerting. I don't know who to compare them to, but try to imagine Super Furry Animals at double speed. Ah yes... the voice. For those of you still unsure, yes that really is her voice. It hasn't been sped up. It's one of the most bizarre voices I've ever heard. It's not high in a forced, falsetto way. It sounds like a deep voice under the influence of a lot of helium. At first, you're sure you're listening to a cartoon and you can't quite get over it. Personally I've warmed to it with a few listens, I think it fits the music like a glove (a petite, bright pink driving glove) especially with lyrics that are slightly obtuse and occasionally quite insightful (and it probably helps that I've learned to associate it with an incredibly hot, captivatingly crazy girl.) Though to be fair, I can kind of see why it puts some people off. There's such a thing as too distinctive. The Fly is so strewn with balloons and other such children's party paraphernalia that you almost forget that you're in a dark basement bar in central London. They even hired a midget comedian to warm the crowd up for them, and I'm thinking "now THIS is a band that goes that extra mile." I'd be interested to see what they'd do with a venue if they had complete aesthetic control over it - It'd be like a party inside a giant fruit salad. Not one for the old fogies among us. Tonight's set was short, comprised of a mere five or six songs, which was a shame but it certainly left me wanting more. Do they have more? Or is this a bit of a one-trick pony? We'll see. View original article on Spoonfed

My Valentino/Forbidden Kiss review from Street Voice, May 2008

"The Rrrs hail from the West Midlands and are a kick ass indie band that I think many of you will love. This four piece have a catchy guitar sound but what makes them stand out is the distinctive vocals from the gorgeous Sharzilla Moog. On the opening track 'My Valentino' sees the Rrrs come into their own with the catchiest number on this three track single. This track also shows what a wicked vocalist Sharzilla is. Slowing down things a little on 'Forbidden Kiss' shows just how diverse this band are yet still retaining that catchy guitar sound. A great song and I for one reckon given proper air time on the radio will see this band hit it big time on these two tracks alone. 'Credit Crunch' see's the band taking a more indie rock route and this song that the reviewers at NME will be raving about. A great debut single and hopefully leading the Rrrs to greater things! 9/10"

The Rrrs @ Colloseum (now Kasbah), Coventry, 23 June 2007

Rob Macca writes about his Look Good, Feel Great! EP launch experience, which includes a photo of him with girl's underwear on his head. "The occasion for getting drunk and having a wild night out at The Colosseum was The Rrrs "Look Good, Feel Great" EP launch and what an entertaining night it was!" "Finally it was time for The Rrrs to make their Colosseum debut - this is the reason why many were here, for their "Look Good Feel Great" EP launch. I'd got my red t-shirt earlier in the foyer and a badge and now it was time to get to the front and show some support (and also I wanted to party!). The Rrrs took centre stage and soon unleashed their brand of indie/new wave pop tunes. Knickers were being waved in the air during "Is that your underwear on the floor" and the stage now resembled a Tom Jones gig. Sharliza was on top form, as seen in the picture above and could be seen sticking her foot in Les Woods crotch and having bum on bum nudging with backing vocalist Babs Jorge. The set list was so upbeat and lifting that it could help break any UN deadlock and bring people from opposite sides together. Steve K from Jaffa Rose provided drums again and did an excellent job and Rowan Gifted's lead guitar made the night one worthy of being remembered long into the future......."

The Rrrs @ Golden Cross, Coventry, 31 July 2007

"The Rrrs are possibly THE most entertaining band to watch on stage and never fail to leave me feeling all happy inside when I watch them perform. Normally you'd expect a group of Warwick Students to be all stuck up or aloof but nothing could be further from the truth, Sharliza, Les and Rowen are the most down to earth, chilled out people I know and make live music fun to watch and listen. There is a certain chemistry between Sharliza and the band, which allows her to be able to politely kick Les and Rowen in the balls - and still get away with it! If you've ever seen The Rrrs live then you'll know what I mean, you not only get a collection of fast indie songs but you get a free stage show as well. Blinking is not allowed as you'll miss the on stage antics between the band members, the high point being at the end of the set as Sharliza grabbed Rowen's nuts and then stood over Les (as he lay on the floor) beating him with her guitar. Now that's Rock 'n' Roll! The Rrrs put the fun back into music and even the stand in drummer gave 110% last night. The two videos below give you an idea of their solid performance as a band. It would be a great shame not to see them still performing over the coming months because they still do not have a regular drummer, so if you know anybody who can fit the bill, drop them a message on their MySpace or on Facebook." More pictures and salutations from Rob Macca's blog - Golden Cross experience.

Look Good, Feel Great! EP review

This is Warwick legend Chris Carter's review of our EP on his blogzine, http://carters-corner.blogspot.com. Thanks, Carter! He also has a band called Cause of Accident.

"One of my resolute favourites in the multitude of bands playing the local basement-circuit, The Rrrrrs (roll your tongue) are what life might look and sound like if you washed a jumbo bag of Skittles down with two crates of Irn-Bru. The gaudiest, trashiest, most in-your-face explosion of pure pop imaginable, this knockabout quartet first came to prominence at Warwick's Battle of the Bands tournament in 2005, where they surprised everyone by scampering away with their heat. Acting as a judge that night, I found myself warming to the band before they'd even played a note when, in a hugely endearing piece of improvisation, they mimed along to one of their own records during set-up. The ensuing performance was an absolute car-wreck, but even the most curmudgeonly soul would be hard-pushed to deny they had something - if memory serves, I gave them the full-monty for stage presence, entertainment value and songwriting. When we read out the final verdict, the numerous technical perfectionists in the audience almost had kittens. "But they can't play!", the masses squealed. "So what?!" the band replied, all the while bouncing around like errant Ribena berries.

There's no doubt that The Rrrrrs are rough around the edges: their live shows are unruly, chaotic affairs which regularly degenerate into playfighting and complete musical meltdown. However, I think they're much cleverer than they come across - there is a calculated shambolicism to their performances which suggests an astute sense of mischief at play (guitarist Rowan Gifford in particular is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist whose abilities are better showcased in jazz quintet Jaffa Rose). Above all else, they have a palpable onstage chemistry - perhaps the best comparison to be drawn is with The White Stripes, whose considerable wattage is generated not through total cohesion but a dynamic personal interplay. Rather than simply being content to exist in a mire of wilfully sloppy pub-rock, I would argue The Rrrrrs pull the ultimate bait-and-switch on their audience: they can play – they just choose not to.

Much of your tolerance for the band will undoubtedly hinge on whether you're able to hack the antics of their eccentric frontwoman Sharliza Rahman. Last time I saw them play, her escapades involved flashing one arse-cheek, kicking her bassist in the nuts for playing in the wrong key, and fellating a mic-stand. You'd think that she'd be different offstage. She's not. She's mad as a box of frogs.

She's also a true star-in-the-making. Charisma, the X-factor, star power, the elusive 'it' - call it what you will, this girl has it in spades. Love or hate her, there's no denying Sharliza's distinctive presence: on record she sounds like a sexed-up snake-charmer, supplementing her oddly robotic helium-drone with the whooping vocal tics of Karen O. Like fellow rabble-rousers The Moldy Peaches, the band's attitude is pure punk-rock, shot through with a joyous don't-give-a-fuck mentality. Their songs are frequently daft but achingly bittersweet; stylistically they remind me a little of The Ramones, tacking what are essentially old-fashioned pop hooks onto a contemporary mode of delivery (in this case, a raucous hybrid of The Noisettes and The Detroit Cobras).

Their recent demo Look Good, Feel Great! serves as a fairly accurate example of the divisive approach which famously resulted in a journo friend of mine describing them as "jaw-clenchingly annoying" (a sentiment which bassist Les Pemberton promptly appropriated as his sign-off on internet forums). Opener Is That Your Underwear on the Floor? is the band's finest number to date, supplementing its early-Cure guitar tones with dizzying harmonies and glimmering steel-drums. By contrast, the maddening My Valentino will either make you want to bop along like a cunt or tear your hair out (I'm still undecided, though I'll probably give them the benefit of the doubt at this stage). Always a highlight of their live set, closing track Money is the most diverse and interesting of the three, zipping from style to style with such barking enthusiasm that it sounds like Joy Division one moment and Minor Threat the next. Keep listening at the end and you also get a re-recorded version of their signature tune - the aptly-titled I Feel Great - on which we get an indication of the true heart that beats behind their colourful showmanship when Sharliza coos, with total sincerity: "I feel great, you are wonderful, I'm happy I'm with you / Over land, under water, in the sky and outer-space".

Be it through their kinship with upcoming alcopoplets The Ripps or simply their unflappable high spirits in the face of such hostility, I have no doubt that The Rrrrrs will piss everyone off by being the next band in the area to land a record deal and start bothering the underground press. In all honesty, this EP doesn't particularly do them justice: you really have to see them live to appreciate the essence of the band. They're like a direct injection of sherbert into the bloodstream, a goofy rock'n'roll cartoon designed to leave you smiling from ear-to-ear. The Rrrrrs are everything pop music should be. They are Prozac in musical form."

The Rrrs @ Nags Head, Nuneaton, 5 May 2007

By Phil Huxley, from the BBC website: "A gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Nuneaton and what better way to spend it than watching some great bands in the Nag's Head. ....Warwick Uni band The Rrrrs are next on and singer Sharliza is irrepressible as ever onstage. She wears yellow hotpants and the boys in the band go for Hawaiian shirts. The addition of a bubble machine and Sharliza's hyperactive stage presence mean it's an enjoyable and fun set as always."