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What makes The Pleased special? Is it one horse pummeling me into the belief that one chord is enough for great rock and roll. Follow a guitar just to become lost in a maze of lyrical melodies and chopping, staccato lines. Getting drunk in San Francisco and then driving 200 miles home at 2am. Jo grinning like a Cheshire cat through every gig swapping between keyboards and tambourine and hand claps and ba-ba-ba backing vox. Luckey standing almost motionless staring into space whilst laying a bassline underpinning a song or Genaro playing air drums as the intro to a song. Getting drunk in London and missing the last train home. Rich and Noah countering each other all the way through, sharing vocals occasionally, American accent rubbing up against an English one, taking the lead from each other on others. Their guitar playing mirroring this in the juxtaposition of lead and rhythm, playing off one another, each playing lead at the same time, or changing between lead and rhythm in one song. Cool t-shirts. Hearing something different each time I listen to the band; echoes of things I’ve heard before, melodies I hadn’t picked up previously, rhythms that lose themselves only to be found again, keyboard parts that sneak into my head when I‚m not concentrating. Listening on headphones and hearing details most other bands can’t, or don’t, comprehend are possible in pop music. Putting them on the stereo, whacking the volume up and jumping round the room with a smile on my face. Getting so drunk in Brighton that I don't remember it, just some fuzzy photos to probe my memory. Self-produced CDs in self-designed, handprinted sleeves. All this and more is The Pleased to me. But hey don’t take my word for it, buy a cd, go to a gig, decide for yourself.