Colouring in the country.

A country pub in the home town of Small Town Mentality’s front man Jim Jones. The bar is packed and Jim is armed with just an acoustic guitar and a head full of songs. His emotionally-cracked vocals, understated and intimate, able to bring out every word and nuance of his perceptive lyrics. You could-hear a pin drop. It's hard to get people's attention in a pub but everyone seems mesmerised, lost in their own thoughts.

A week later in the nearby village of Croyde and the full line up is playing. This time all four members of Small Town Mentality were doing a great job of turning those same simple tunes into a full-on rock experience. Surely this must be the test of a good song - whether it sounds equally good standing alone as it does "coloured in." In this case careful "colouring in" was executed by some very adept hands: Allan Kendall (bass), Ken Kerslake (drums) and established singer/songwriter Peter Bruntnell (who already has three acclaimed albums on Loose Records and Slow River Records)on guitars and pedal steel.

It all started out a year earlier in the spring of 2004 when, Small Town Mentality set about making their own home-spun sounds. Pete’s Basement, Jim’s Bedroom Ken's attic and any room, village hall or phone box that got them a decent sound became the studio. Hours of toiling over lyrics, sounds, beats and arrangements resulted in the production of the stunning debut album “Monochrome”, an album as emotionally potent as it is simplistically beautiful. Surely a future classic.

So what next for these four boys from the backwater? Well they’ll go where ever the road leads them. As Jim says "We didn't write the album with any aspirations of fame and fortune, we just wanted to make something that people would want to listen to.” An album which is now being enjoyed and listened to by the ever growing number of Small Town followers in this contemplative corner of England.

I guess it all just goes to show that there’s nothing narrow minded about Small Town Mentality.