Get your rock on
Ok, so I saw these guys perform in NYC with Hot Chip a little while back, and at that point I'd not really heard what they were about, only had one of their songs, etc. But I was really pleasantly surprised at how much fun they were, how tight they were as a band, and how genuinely funny they were. All dressed up sharp, with the lead-singer a spastic bundle of energy, trained in the Ian Curtis school of hand chops, mic stand smashes, and wide/wild-eyed facial tics.
Basically, they were a lot of fun to watch, and despite not knowing their material, I found myself singing along to the choruses. It was fun too because it was their first show in NYC - I spoke to the lead singer for a bit after the show, told him I enjoyed it a lot and he seemed genuinely pleased to hear it, as he had been both really excited and nervous about playing for a New York audience.
The band is made up by Tom English (drums), Duncan Lloyd (guitars), Paul Smith (vocals), Archis Tiku (bass guitar) and Lukas Wooller (keyboards). They're from the northern English city of Newcastle Upon Tyne - when I first heard the vocalist sing, I thought maybe they were Scottish, but that's just the strong northern accent at play.
Now I've come across their EP of four songs, collecting the two 7"s they'd released previously - all the songs rock loud, each one blasting off with martial drums, rubbery basslines, real guitar chops and great keyboard lines. They're all great little songs about life and love - what rock music is supposed to be about, right? I think this is my favorite song of theirs that I've heard so far. However, there's a new single, "Graffiti" coming out this next Tuesday - its another garage-y burner with a really massive sound. Its good stuff for sure.
You can buy their music from the band or download their songs from their label, WARP - yes, they're one of the very few rock-bands on the experimental electronic WARP label. I also highly recomend catching their live show if you can - they're playing loads of dates in the UK in May, and hitting mainland Europe near the end of the month and beginning of June.