IT'S all getting very silly, isn't lit? As if tribute bands such as Bjorn Again, The Australian Doors, The Bootleg Beatles, and The Counterfeit Stones weren't bad enough (or, indeed, good enough, depending on your point of view), along comes Nowaysis to put the entire "tribute" band business into a spin.
Inherent to the ethic behind the tribute band is a back catalogue of at least six albums over the space of up to 10 years.
Nowaysis have cut those figures back by over 50 per cent, as they plough their way through the two recently released Oasis albums, Definitely Maybe and What's The Story (Morning Glory), as well as a couple of songs by other artists.
This is where it gets mildly interesting, for Nowaysis have actually signed to a major label (EMI), and have released their own version of The New Seekers' I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing, itself a song that Oasis has assimilated. Perhaps the karaoke band is already tiring of its constricting burden.
There's no need to be confused, though, for Nowaysis play it straight and ordinary. While one cannot but be moved to tears of mirth at how the audience can, apparently, identify with someone pretending to be Liam Gallagher, there's no denying that the music they play is an extremely good copy of the Oasis blueprint.
The theory of accepting no substitutes flies out the window, paving the way for Blur, Pulp, and Suede tribute bands at your local venue any day now.
As David Bowie didn't say - this ain't rock `n' roll, this is verisimilitude. These days, can anyone really tell the difference?