The Americans have a saying: "When life deals you lemons, make lemonade". That's the Yanks, though - unable to see a frown without automatically wanting to turn it upside-down. Over here in Blighty, frustrations have a habit of festering, and maybe that's not healthy. But the thing about frustration is that it can be shaped, honed. It's the first step towards the fight back.
Thank You For Choosing, the first side of Needs Must's forthcoming debut single, is a tune that turns frustration to its advantage. Part protest song, part working class clarion call, it builds from a quietly seething verse of sneered grievances - "The import rates are getting higher/All sold out to the biggest buyer/The fast food chains are getting fatter/Leaves our metabolism in a tatter" spits vocalist Patrick Minhard - into a genuinely euphoric chorus of firework guitars and drum spills that thumbs its nose at authority and resolves to go its own way.

So where did this song come from? The genesis of Needs Must can be traced back to the Summer of 2007, when Patrick Minhard and long-term friend Brendan Esmonde decided to stop talking about being in a band, and get it together. A few members came and went before the quartet was completed by James Gilder (guitar) and Sam Mitchell (drums). And then, Brendan pulled out a tune he'd had kicking around since well before the band started - a number slower, more mellow than most of the punkier numbers the group thrashed out in the practice room, but one with a slow-burning energy of its own. "When Brendan gave me the song to put lyrics to it, it took me a while to get my head around it," admits Patrick. "The spark for it came from a McDonalds drive-thru. There's this sign that read 'Thank you for choosing us', and that got me thinking."

Things have changed in Medway. Back in the '60s and '70s, the old Medway towns were thriving. But then, in 1984, Thatcher closed down the Chatham dockyard, and since then, the area has started to fall into disrepair. Old Victorian terraces are falling into disrepair, and chain shops and fast food joints have started to invade the high streets. "You speak to your elders, and they said it used to be brilliant down here," says Patrick. "So much of that has disappeared now. Medway is still suffering now - it's one of the most unemployed places in the country, and the council is corrupt, nothing ever seems to get done."

Thank You For Choosing captures this cultural shift, the slow, homogenising creep of globalisation as it changes our old market towns into McVillages. It's a piece of political songwriting that's deft, not heavy handed, and demonstrates Needs Must's debt to an older generation of polticised songwriters. "The Jam were always a huge inspiration on us," adds Brendan. "The Jam and The Clash had values," adds Patrick. "They know how to make a statement and that's what we try to do as well."