Chaser are a band that have built up a bit of a buzz about them over the last couple of months and even became our Band Of The Month in February 06 after a public vote in the Forum. This buzz was due to a couple of points, the first was the couple of songs that this Winchester based four piece had put up on their myspace page and the second point is that fact that the band were getting compared to the likes of Panic! At The Disco, The Killers & Bloc Party.
The Panic! At The Disco comparison isn’t really one to take that much notice of as I think it only really slightly applies to the first couple of songs ‘I’ll Be On The Other Side (Riot)’ & ‘Best Seat In The House’ due to the fact that they are easily danceable Indie-Pop tracks that have obvious mass appeal. The title track ‘Best Seat In The House’ is the best song on this mini-album and the fact is if Chaser were signed to a major label then I could seriously see this song going top 20. It’s an amazing Dance influenced Pop-Rock track that really is as catchy as they come. Even when the Panic! comparisons begin to fade the quality doesn’t follow suit, ‘Race The Sun’ is an excellent piano-driven number and even when things slow right down on ‘On Second Glance’, Chaser’s quality shines through and they prove that they aren’t just a one trick horse.
The only real bump in proceedings is ‘Headlights & Traintracks’ which really misses the mark and just ends up sounding like an unfinished My Awesome Compilation song. However they pick themselves back up and finish on a high with ‘Red Paint’ which is another melodic gem. There’s only one more disappointment and that’s the fact that they decided not to end on a high point with ‘Red Paint’ and instead they end the album with a dance remix of ‘Riot’ which is just awful. I think the main reason I don’t like this song is the same reason I don’t like popping pills, it’s just not my sort of thing. Maybe if I were into popping pills then I would like this, but not right now thanks.
Overall this debut from Chaser is a real success story and I would expect them to go on now and build a really solid following from it. There really is something for everyone here, there’s ‘Beat Seat In The House to dance your arse off to and then there’s ‘On Second Glance’ to write poetry and maybe even shed a tear too. This is a fantastic start for Chaser and one of the first great UK releases of 2006.
 
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