CARTER USM

30 Something box set Jim Bob and Fruitbat's finest hour. Wot, no T-shirt? This deep into the world-wearily complacent ‘whatthe-fuck-next?’ 21st century, it’s hard to believe that Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine weren’t just a figment; a desperate ex-punk’s wishful-thinking cheese dream, a Beastie Boys/Angus Young-inspired antidote to indie jangling and an ecstasy-encumbered pop zeitgeist reduced to giving flares another go. Chipmunk-faced cycling enthusiast Leslie ‘Fruitbat’ Carter thrashed-out irresistible ear-worm riffs to a DAT backing track as outwardly shy, inwardly seething human fringe James Robert Morrison wrapped righteous anger in punchy puns. Jim Bob was furious about everything and wrote emotively about slum landlords, rubbish radio, child abuse, bullying in the armed forces, alcoholism, racism, muggers, fat bastards, the prospect of shadows on his lungs and eventually, almost inevitably, aeroplane…