Excuse the quality of the music video above; YouTube had only been existing for a year when the video was uploaded and couldn’t handle the same standards as it does today.

The Young Knives are a three-piece indie rock band consisting of brothers Henry and Thomas “The House of Lords” Dartnall on guitar and bass respectively, and Oliver Askew on the drums. They were quite the thing in 2006 (not as much as… say Arctic Monkeys were but were still a group that got people talking) releasing a string of enjoyable singles which led up to their debut album Voices of Animals and Men in August of the same year. Took me a while to find out who the band actually was. The original video for the band’s first single “The Decision” was played on MTV at sporadic times but the little animation that showed you the song’s name and artist never showed up. It also made me assume that The House of Lords was the band’s lead singer. Viewing the first video for “Weekends and Bleak Days” and “Here Comes the Rumour Mill” showed that he, in fact, was not.

And, if you didn’t see from the title, the second song is what I will be talking about today. “Here Comes the Rumour Mill” was The Young Knives’ second single released early 2006, and is about the paranoia and mistrust brought about by constant gossiping and rumours. The track is driven by a constantly moving guitar line that intertwines with Henry Dartnall’s vocals amidst a solid rhythm section before the power chords are brought out for a rip-roaring chorus in which Dartnall leaps an octave or so, shouting about the uncontrollable spread of the lies that are spouted by people. I think the track is another one of those that sound so much better when seen with its music video. It’s one that brilliant captures what the song is about visually, and what better way to exhibit it than through having the lead singer aggressively yell with huge bug-like eyes towards the camera, seeing hallucinations brought on by his mental condition? It’s a wild listen, much more so than compared to “The Decision”, and was the track that convinced me that the group was worth listening to. Most definitely my favourite song of theirs.

It’s a shame they gradually faded from the airwaves, but they’re still going strong. Their most recent album Sick Octave came out in late 2013. Still, it’s their first album that I feel most connected with. Takes me back to a simple times.