It’s always a worry when bands go from being hated with outright FIRE and VENOM by the masses and loved by an enlightened few, to gaining critical respect (yawn) and being ‘big on the local scene.’ You can’t help wondering whether they’ve, maybe, like, turned into the Stereophonics while your back was turned. Yikes! But, no. After all, this is the Pointless Fanatics we’re talking about – ‘Abuse Your Friends 3’ superstars and Middlesbrough’s sexiest exports. That’s right kids - with a sneer on their lips and a cigar in their mouth they bring us the Charlotte Hustler e.p. And let me tell you - it’s a cracker!

‘Piazza on Capri’ is possibly the best thing the PF’s have put their names to since the magical ‘On My Own’ – yeah, yeah, they think it’s a bag of shite, I think it’s mega. They’re wrong, I’m right, blah blah blah. This has fuzzy-scarfo/pumpkins-esque guitars, clanky military drums and an ACE riff-heavy chorus. It’s also the first song they’ve done in AGES that lasts less than 3 minutes. Punk rock points!

Neutralize sounds like Jeff Buckley jamming with Dark Star in the early hours of the morning. Hinch’s numerous gee-tar FX actually work and sound fucking BEAUTIFUL and Dan sounds like a fallen angel covered in snow. I like this one!

Last song, the infamous prog-opus that is ‘Absinthe is Death/I Remember Nothing’ actually sounds better on plastic than it does live. Think Nick Drake doing beat poetry while Joy Division and Bends-era Radiohead kick up a doom-rock storm in the background. FOR SEVEN MINUTES AND FORTY EIGHT SECONDS!!!! But… it’s really good! It manages to hold your attention against the odds – reeling you in and transporting you into a dark and dangerous world of sleaze and hard liquor!

With their Manics rhetoric, Smiths-like introspection and general pop star snappiness the PF’s should be playing huge amphitheatres by now instead of grimy tees side pubs but that’s not their fault. You can blame our blinkered and increasingly conservative music industry for that. It’s enough to make you wanna smash things.

If you’d like a copy of this recording, e-mail pointlessfanatics@angelfire.co.uk