Rubicon: Primary

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * * )

The debut offering by the Auckland trio sounds pretty much how a young rock band's debut should - brash and bratty, a couple of singles, a couple of throwaways and much working through influences.

The main surprise is that beyond the goofy fuzzpop energy of their earlier singles like Funnyboy, The Captain and Bruce - and the disposable theme tune opener Rubicon City - there are hidden depths evident in the balance of the 14 tracks.

Some tracks seem to owe something to Blink-182 (Yeah Yeah Rockstar which does slip in a reference to singer Paul Reid's day job as a soap star) or Nirvana/Foofighters (Energy Levels, Yr Own Good), while Hey! starts off sounding like Garageland's Come Back.

But they also do gripping, slow-fused scorchers in Been Around and In My Mind, kick out the jams on U Dunno and finish it off with acoustic ballad Blackbird (not the Beatles one) to show that you can be a television studio rock'n'roll wrecking crew and still have a sensitive side too.

And while the self-produced Primary shows that Rubicon haven't yet left rock'n'roll high school, they're having more fun than most.

Label: Wildside/Universal