Based in New York City, this three piece rock-pop band consists of John Conner on bass, Dante Piacenza on guitars and Roger Murdock (Airplane jokes not allowed here) on drums. All three contribute to the vocals, and as they are originally from Ireland, Conn and Texas respectively, I would guess that there is a wide range of musical influences thrown into the mix.

The first thing I noticed was that both CDs are professionally pressed and printed, none of the gold CDR with marker pen writing we often get here at the KlubKat office. With a budget of zip, this tells me straight away that here is a band who cares about their image - and with this in mind I slipped the first of the silver discs into my player and wondered if they have talent to match. I was not disappointed.

The sound of The Messyheads is quite unusual in modern music - that is to say, it is a mixture of traditional rock n' roll and pop which should appeal just as much to the hardcore 70s rocker as the modern generation. In fact the trio seem to be attempting to tread a middle ground here, throwing in some really quite heavy tracks with other mellow offerings such as the title track "Say Something Stupid".

Interestingly this so called 7 track CD contains 8 tracks, the eighth of which is quite mysterious. The track appears on the listing as over 8 minutes, but the first 3 consist of total silence before the bonus track ("Stuck in a Place", also available on the I'm No One CD) begins - It was like finding a secret area on a Playstation game. I wonder if this is the next trend - secret tracks!

The fact that I've been able to listen to 2 CDs for this review is helpful, as bands often change their style between recordings. The three track single "I'm no one" seems slightly more laid back than it's longer companion, more in the tradition of eighties pop. Both CDs are refreshing to a reviewer who has heard far too much rubbish for words. KlubKat has a tradition of only reviewing music we think has an audience, so luckily you don't have to read about the lower end of the market, and believe me you should thank whichever deity you worship for that one! Pop is one of my favourite genres, having grown up with it, and for once I can actually say that here is a band which do it right - and that isn't something I've said much since the eighties.

The Messyheads seem to enjoy what they do - they're in it for the music not the money, and that always adds points for me.

The website (http://members.aol.com/messyheads/messyheads.html) begins with a black page on which flickering images of faces are accompanied by the simple message "You're here - but are you here?". Clicking through produces a pretty standard site containing plenty of links and MP3 tracks but very little information on the band themselves. The "Headroom" section contains photos and a little information, but it didn't leave me too much to go on. Luckily, though, the music speaks for itself and I can strongly recommend anyone with a rocking bone in their body to check them out. Do it. Do it now!