The singer Cliff Jones of this Britpop group initially earned a living as a pop journalist and that may explain the remarkable band name. With a name like this you know in England you are assured of the necessary attention in advance, he must have thought and he was right. Gay Dad became one of the English hypes of 1999 and the album Leisure Noise was sold in large numbers. In the Netherlands, the
… public was less enthusiastic about Gay Dad's psychedelic glam rock. Just like bands like T-Rex, Suede and The Jam, the group is mainly an English phenomenon that is not understood outside the country's borders. Whether Gay Dad will ever achieve the status of previous bands is the question. Transmission is inconclusive about this. The record sounds great and it contains a few catchy songs, but the group lacks a clear identity of its own. Gay Dad is a nice Britpop group, nothing more and nothing less. And Cliff Jones is a smart guy who knows certain mechanisms in pop music perfectly, but as a full-fledged pop star is still a size too small. (MS)more
