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Too many bands fly the glam flag with much noise and preening but minus the songwriting substance that elevated the likes of the Sweet, Slade and Mott. LA’s Smash Fashion manage to strike a robust balance between resonant 70s-style pop-rock melodies and chest-beating.

Lining up as singer Roger Deering, Rock City Angels guitarist Stuart Casson, former Dils bassist Tony Kinman and drummer Repo from Finland’s Smack, the band manage to whip up Quireboys-style carnage with tunes to back up the bluster on ditties such as Stay Off My La La and Strike My Fancy (Knickers Down), although the haunting You Love To Suffer could startlingly have sat as a highlight of Bowie’s last album.

Kris Needs is a British journalist and author, known for writings on music from the 1970s onwards. Previously secretary of the Mott The Hoople fan club, he became editor of ZigZag in 1977 and has written biographies of stars including Primal Scream, Joe Strummer and Keith Richards. He's also written for MOJO, Record Collector, Classic Rock, Prog, Electronic Sound, Vive Le Rock and Shindig!