Big Linda: Don’t think about it too much. The band name, that is. It’s a ‘Led Zeppelin II’ thing. A ‘Wish You Were Here’ thing. An ‘Axis Bold As Love’, ‘Sticky Fingers’, ‘Who’s Next’ kind of thing. And the sooner you get over that the better. Agreed? Agreed. The second thing is…. well, the second thing is how bloody loud they are, but more of that later… it’s the scale of the rock and the calibre of the tunes. Not over-glammed, sequinned rock striking poses before a Marshall stack, nor the urchin rock of an erratic, doe-eyed waif, or Noo Yoik rock hiding beneath blue mascara and second-hand songs for that matter. It’s dynamic rock with big f**k off choruses, big f**k off riffs and big f**k off tunes. It’s rock with aspirations - not delusions - of grandeur. Madison Square Garden rock if you will. Guitarist Patrick Murdoch, drummer Geoff Holroyde and bass guitarist Vezio Bacci found each other walking in and around the usual London studios last year, but finding vocalist Rob Alder earlier this year sealed the line up. It’d be too obvious to mention their respective Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Noel Redding and bare-chested howling all-out, uber rock god frontman qualities at this point. So I won’t. The album sessions (the fruits of which you’re listening to now) took place at the palatial Pelican Lodge studio in Antigua . Which, it must be said, was nice. Not that they paid for the jaunt you understand. In fact, we’re not sure how a bunch of scruffy 20-somethings with their collective arses hanging out their jeans managed to convince the studio owner to let them loose in such a place. Something was mentioned about the local robber baron loaning them the space for undisclosed favours. Really, I didn’t ask too may questions. A recent - very loud - gig at the painfully fashionable Boogaloo in Highgate saw the usual crowd of sceptical frowning Doherty-ette punters go wide-eyed and appropriately barmy (in fact, I believe we’ve got some footage of that show and the band recording on a helicopter pad in Antigua, if you get off on that kinda thing) and similar scenes can be witnessed as the band continue their often impromptu dates in and around London. Incidentally, I just phoned the band to find out who the real Big Linda is. “It’s us” they replied. So that should be good enough for you. by Matt Everitt (Music News Editor Xfm) 104.9 Xfm London