America Waits Two More Months For The View

This week was going to a busy one for Scottish band The View. Their debut album Hats Off to the Buskers, which debuted at #1 in the UK upon its 1/29/07 release, was scheduled to be released tomorrow, March 13th, in the U.S. In addition, they had a March tour of the States planned, including some much-hyped dates at this week's South by Southwest music festival.

It all sounded like a solid strategy to introduce America to their punky/poppy sound, which has already prompted the NY Daily News to pronounce them this year's Arctic Monkeys. That is, until the band encountered unforeseen visa and immigration issues. The pesky red tape caused The View to have to cancel their March tour and push back the U.S. release of Hats Off to the Buskers to May 8th.

Soon, I trust, we'll be hearing plenty about The View on this side of the pond. Columbia Records is backing the album and compared to like-minded artists such as The Libertines and The Kooks, I'd give The View the edge for writing better, loose-but-hooky hits...based on what I've heard so far.

Hopefully the band gets their visa and immigration issues sorted out and are able to tour the U.S. in conjunction with the scheduled May release of their debut.

Dave Powers, Blog Critics US, 12th March 2007