Bedsit is a strange beast. The first thing that hits you about the band is their powerful honesty. They don’t hide behind flowery words and PR hype. They will bare their very soul to you if they can, to show where they come from. They will even let you hear the early demos written on the floors in rented accommodations if you want. It is music composed on a cheap acoustic guitar when their vocalist knew only a few chords, but maybe it will inspire somebody out there not to give up when going through a dark patch.
Bedsit started out as a solo project of Tom Hockney – who poured his struggle with mental health and his grief over the loss of a friend into something creative. By 2020 he had enough material to issue his first EP “Pocket Toy”. It consisted of three new songs: “Click Track”, “FDO” and “Brother”. The title composition has been carried forward from the demo sessions and given a wonderful remake. “Early Demos” could be classified as bedroom alternative/lofi or even unplugged and showed inspiration from Alice in Chains, solo Mark Lanegan and The Fall. On “Pocket Toy” Tom Hockney pulled a punch and took no prisoners. And by coincidence created the best early grunge record that was ever written in the UK. Forget “Sixteen Stone” by Bush. If I played “Click Track” to a music veteran like Greg Kot (a highly respected critic at Chicago Tribune if you grew up in the 90s), I`m sure he would have asked me what on earth TAD missing recordings are doing at my house. Or I could create an urban legend that Bedsit were forgotten contemporaries of Green River or Gruntruck and nobody would be able to contradict it. You know the boys jammed around Music Bank for few years and then went to work for Microsoft. If you are lucky, you can still meet them sometimes hanging around at Easy Street Records. I jest of course and would never create fake news, but then again there were some amazingly well-prepared hoaxes in the history of grunge – like the infamous Grunge Speak incident. And debut offering from Bedsit can proudly stand next to any early genre album and be considered an equal anyway.
Part of the charm of “Pocket Toy” is that this is no longer one man`s project. Tom was joined by seasoned musicians from various Hull bands – ‘System Paralysis’, ‘NOUR’ and ‘Smiling Assassin’. Casey Stead (guitars), George Garnett (drums) and Tom Scanlon (bass) brought to the project not only their skills and passion for music, but also shared the love of same heavy and dirty sound that was born in Seattle at the end of the 80s. And I want to put emphasis here on one thing. There are countless grunge bands out there. And they do more or less a good job in keeping the genre present and animated almost four decades in. That’s an achievement all right. But I will not call Bedsit a grunge band. I will call them the same way we used to call all the bands coming from our scene even before I arrived – a Seattle sound band. A Pudget sound band if you get the (old and tired) joke. I`m willing to give this quartet an honorary citizenship of the Emerald City – they don’t just want to play a certain type of music; they took it and made it alive, authentic. It`s almost like they come from a gritty part of Tacoma, not Hull. But let`s not get ahead of ourselves.
In 2021 the band began to play gigs. They debuted in a much-loved grass root venue The New Adelphi (where apparently three members of the band worked at a time) and started to attract a public from the get-go. In November they returned to Adelphi to play “Nevermind” by Nirvana in its entirety. The event sold out and if you believe those who been there it was on out the body experience. Not bad for a gig review, you must admit.
Last year seen Bedsit take another musical direction with their single “Go Outside”. They incorporated some classic punk refrains and more melodic approach to the song writing. The single went out on band`s independent label “Forever Underdogs” and was promoted by a video directed by Rob Moses. Maybe it is just me but again I see some many references to Seattle scene that it makes me homesick. The stage set up reminds me of Screaming Trees, the green lighted premises looks like you are at The Tavern and those fluorescent stars are the most Everclear thing since Everclear released “Pale Green Stars”. For the naysayers: I know Everclear were from Oregon but we incorporated them into post/grunge movement, so shush. Even the label name brings back memories to Mother Love Bone and their Star Dog Records.
Sometime around releasing “Go Outside” Tom Scanlon left Bedsit and was replaced by new bassist – Ciaran Hall. The new line up was already hard at work and the result is a brand new EP “Dead Bands”. Hot and strong like a cup of black coffee.
“This is our first EP as a full band” – says Bedsit – “The title track is a celebration of the heritage of live music. From gigantic rockstars who inspired generations, to local artists who you think never got the exposure they deserved. They were all answering the same calling: blessed release. How those burning passions, die as they may, continue to smoulder in the hearts of strangers inspiring generations of sympathetic joy and creativity”.
There are four songs on the EP: already mentioned “Go Outside” and “Dead bands” plus “Drip Feed” and “Eloquent”. You may say it`s not much but the musical landscape they cover is enormous. The burning passion of early Black Flag, chaotic chants a la Green River, heavy riffs that could have been written by Biohazard and a sprinkle of Californian punk scene (Rancid, The Offspring) of the mid 90s. On “Dead Bands” there is even a small tribute to Comes With The Fall and Tom Hockney does his best impression of William DuVall. But again, this is not reheating and paying homages to what was before. It is a solid record that is bursting with life, it sounds both modern and old enough to be included in original run of the grunge bands. It bridges the gaps between then and now in a truly inspiring fashion.
And most importantly Bedsit fit in perfectly with what is happening on the home scene these days. I mean put them on a bill with The Black Ends and Filth Is Eternal and even Telomyras and they will be right in their element. There is a great program on KISW 99.9 with DJ Kevin Diers called Loud and Local if you wanna hear what`s hot in Seattle these days. I kind of feel that Bedsit maybe should get in touch.
I may have written once before in a review, that there is a real dilemma for UK artists who play rock genres popular in America – do they remain at home far away from their target audience or do they move and risk being cut off necessities such as health insurance, family and friends. When it comes to acts like Bedsit the struggle is real. If the band ever moved to US they could very quickly get signed by a major label and become a mainstream act.
Anyway, as you may have gathered from this longish review – Bedsit are awesome, full of potential and could do well for themselves on both sides of the Pond. If only people in the higher registers of this industry actually listened to A&Rs. As usual – invest in new, unsigned, grass root talent. And all will be all right with the world.
You can follow the band on socials:
https://www.bedsitband.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/bedsitband
https://twitter.com/BedsitBand
https://www.instagram.com/bedsitband/
https://bedsit.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/bedsitband
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28fqTZkPRqCaRjK7I-3L3w
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7yNHq7Rh5tV1QL3bKTT0cD?si=CYVJ0pftTsiWAfMUbKDFtg&nd=1
Bedsit have amassed some incredible press coverage, so if you are in need of some additional reading try those articles:
https://www.backseatmafia.com/meet-hulls-most-exciting-new-band-bedsit/
https://www.thehullstory.com/allarticles/bedsit-dead-bands-ep-review
https://maximumvolumemusic.com/band-of-the-day-bedsit/
https://rocknloadmag.com/news/bedsit-dead-bands-ep-out-now/
https://nevolume.co.uk/music/interviews/bedsit-return-to-stockton/
Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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