For a band that have yet to release their debut album, or
leave high school for that matter, Linchpin have quite a story to tell. It
begins with the boys meeting at a south London skate park at the sickeningly
young age of 13 and forming Linchpin. Countless gigs later, a chance meeting
with Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel kick started a deluge of praise being
bestowed upon the band, including the support of the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl.
An impressive story, but the burning question is are they really
any good?
The answer is better than the hype-weary, cynical music fan
might expect. Lyrically it’s well within the realms of your standard teenpop
fare and wouldn’t sound out of place on a Busted album. Musically, however,
they manage to claw back their credibility with a catchy rock melody no doubt
indebted to the likes of the Foo Fighters.
Obviously you’ve heard this done before, but that doesn’t
detract from the fact that ‘All I Want’ is a self-assured, singalong pop-rock
romp, surely guaranteeing Linchpin even more attention over the coming months.