Pantomime Hearse is the 11-track debut album by Mascot Fight, recorded in a second storey studio that overlooks Derby's old jail and gallows. The band has honed their sound since their early material and the polished-but-not-overly-slick production does justice to the stronger hooks and better-realised melodies. It represents a cross-section of styles, from the twee-ish pop of That's A Photocopier to the darker, call-and-respond rock interplay of Fifty Kwacha. Jangly, concise pop songs dominate the first half the record, with only Play the Meathead Anthem hinting at the bands darker side. The hi-hats intro and ensuing riffage soon gives way to another poppy chorus, however. The mood switches permanently for the remainder of the album's 27 minutes when the pining lead guitars introduce Dalian Shied Away. Lyrically, the songs are sometimes satirical – opener Terry is the Chicago Sun pokes fun at tabloid newspapers – but often draw from day-to-day experiences. The likes of Pavement and Blur are audible influences throughout and the album, with hints of Pete & the Pirates and Belle & Sebastian peeping through. Mascot Fight are a 4-piece band from Derby, UK. They formed in 2004 and have released one EP, If Cooks Could Kill (2006). Bands supported in 2008 include Johnny Foreigner, Grammatics and The Wave Pictures. They also played at the Christmas party of Indietracks festival. The band intend to play a series of gigs to support the album release in February/March 2009. "Mascot Fight bring imagination, wit and catchy tunes to the gentler side of indie, too often a world where such concepts have been long abandoned as fanciful myth, and they definitely deserve to be better known and more widely loved than they are." – William Ravenscroft (Unpredictable Porridge) "That's A Photocopier is inspired!" – Gideon Coe, BBC Radio 6 Music