Mysteries #1: White Mansions

I ran into several members of White Mansions at the Troubadour one night before a show, but not theirs. They were playing Ric's that night. I told them how sad I was to be missing them and asked when they would be playing again but they didn't have anything lined up. "Building anticipation", muttered one. That was as much of an understatement as if the phrase were applied to a smack dealer giving you your first hit for free (do they really do that?). As with Dollar Bar's two-minute songs, On/Oxx's twenty-minute sets and rare live treats like the Bell Divers, White Mansions are masters of less is more.

The drug metaphor is apt: their melodic, loud rock music really scratches an itch for me. I first saw them a couple of years ago at a time when Violent Soho were also blasting my face back into a grin with loud guitars, pop hooks and, importantly, shouting. Not tight-panted screeching but full-throated shouting. We didn't know what we'd been missing. The term grunge has been tossed around a bit and isn't far off the mark. Mr Mansions delivers his instantly familiar nursery-rhyme melodies with Cobain-like intensity. How does a band pull this off without being Puddle of Mudd? Answer: great songs.

You can sing White Mansions songs in the shower after hearing them once. In fact, you will sing White Mansions songs in the shower. They're smash hits in my world. Songs about drinking, fuck buddies (chorus: "come again") and that horrendously catchy theme song about wanting to live in a big white house. If you shower with a friend, you can do the two-part boy/girl harmonies. Of course, it's unlikely either of you will have Kellie Lloyd's cupcake-sweet voice. Oh and you'll have to chuck in some "ninga niddle nee" for the nagging guitar parts. Why go to so much trouble with bathroom orchestration (other than the obvious reason that it'd be really fun)? Because they still haven't bloody released anything for you to listen to at home.

Which, together with their apparently all-encompassing "build anticipation" ethos (their Myspace consists of a picture of a house and their "friends" are all alcoholic beverages), was why White Mansions were the first entry for this "Mysteries" thing... until I read last week that (a) they are going to play at the Troub on 1 August and (b) they're going to be selling music in some "new media" format and some T-shirts to raise money to fund their debut album. Hooray! Except I can't go because I'll be at Splendour. Shit. Can someone please buy me one of everything?