Biography
You may have heard of The Ordinary Boys, just as you may have heard of their lead singer, Sam Preston. Things have happened for them over the past couple of years, and they happened quickly: 2004 formation, debut album going gold, acknowledgement from their hero Morrissey, and an inescapable hit single in the form of Boys Will Be Boys that rapidly became an anthem. They had talent to burn and, clearly, they were going places.
But that was then. "If I'm honest about it," Preston (as he is simply known today) is saying, "our second album [Brassbound, 2005] was one good song alongside a lot of shit songs. Basically, it was a really bad time for us. We'd lost our drummer [Charles Stanley], and we'd lost our way. We were feeling apathetic, disillusioned. Losing a member does that to you. Our drive just evaporated." He looks forlorn at the very memory, but then suddenly brightens. "We've found it again now, though, I'm relieved to say. We've found it one hundred fold. And right now, we feel fantastic, completely invincible. This new record feels like the true follow-up to our first. It's a brilliant album, I really believe that." How things change, then. The Ordinary Boys, now comfortably on top of their game, are about to release their third album. The band originally planned the album to be ten songs and wanted to give it the title 'How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps', but the mood in the studio was so buoyant, and Preston so prolific, that the ten songs eventually stretched to 16. They decided to keep the title and the songs. The record is funny, sarcastic and ironic, And stuffed with straight-up, razor-sharp pop-punk tunes. The band's influences remain the same - they love "weird electro-punk Japanese acts" like Plustech Squeezebox and Polysics just as they love Adam and The Ants, The Specials and Bright Eyes' more digital moments - but this time around, they have been injected with a rapacious ambition and a searing sense of self belief. Late 2006, and Worthing's Ordinary Boys are about to take their place as one of the country's biggest acts.