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If
you happen to be young, intelligent and restless, Coventry is a surprisingly
inspiring place to be today- if only for all the wrong reasons. What was a once
proud, vibrant town that was known around the world for its motoring exports
(Jaguar, Peugeot) has succumbed to economic progress and is fast becoming an
identikit British city of chain stores, franchised nightlife and abundant
apathy. After spending the early years of life watching the soul get ripped out
of their hometown, the three members of The Enemy are determined to connect
their own frustrations up with that of an entire country.
Already
mutual friends beforehand, The Enemy became genuine music allies in February of
2006. Andy Hopkins brought along his bass and boyish good looks, Liam Watts
added a fearsome drumming prowess that blows away tub-thumpers twice his age and
the young Mark E. Smith look-a-like Tom Clarke provided all the swagger and
sneer that anyone could possibly expect from someone who has to sing and play
guitar at the same time. Initially, the main motivation for the band was simply
boredom in its many forms. “There’s nothing to do,” states Tom bluntly.
“Although I did most of my growing up in Birmingham, it’s still very similar to Coventry when it comes to
being bored. You’re either down the pub or you’re not so starting a band
represented doing something a bit different to everyone else we know.” What
started out as an exercise in keeping yourselves occupied soon developed into
something more serious as the band realized that a) what they were doing was
really, really good and b) they preferred it more to their day jobs by a
distance of several light years.
Just
eight months (eight months!) later, The Enemy are releasing their sinister yet
pulverizing first single 40 Days, 40 Nights on the newly rejuvenated punk
label Stiff records that once brought the world of the seminal early work of The
Damned and Elvis Costello. Proof that they are already making a racket loud
enough and impressive enough to awaken a sleeping giant. With the songs continuing to come thick
and fast and the lofty comparisons to such luminaries as Oasis and Kasabian
adding an element of early vindication, sticking with it seems like the only
sensible option because as Tom continues, the alternative is a painfully
stifling one. “It’s either this or get some shit 9-5 job, work your arse off for
a relatively small amount of money and not have any real aims or ambitions… just
like everyone else. If you look at most people that you know, they work in jobs
that they either dislike or hate and their only goals are to get a decent girl
and settle down in an average house. Everyone just seems to think ‘that’s life’
but it doesn’t have to be at all.” Having seen various members of their families
live and work to this unsatisfying blueprint (until the grave in the case of
Tom’s grandfather who worked at the recently closed Browns Lane Jaguar factory),
The Enemy intend to reiterate that being working class doesn’t have to be merely
another incarnation of adult slavery. “Why should you just accept that life is
just work and work and work until you die? If you actually stop to question your
regular routine, you’d be pissed off. All you’re doing is making someone else a
lot of money. I’m not trying to be Billy Bragg or even to be political
necessarily, we just want people to wake up.”
The
time to rise, has been engaged.
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Kenny McGoff
