Here`s a short message to everyone for 2020 – The Birmingham scene is rocking. We are in full swing and every band is gearing to release their best music yet. Nothing will stop us. We begin January interviewing one of the best local bands that have been on our radars for the last three years. In such a short period of time, they went from playing tiny venues to being on big, renowned stages, from hanging out in tiny green rooms to travelling Europe and Russia.
Please meet The Assist – a band that you need to have in your lives. No need to thank us, we are just humble music scouts. It`s not our fault we know the best music around!
The Assist are:
Mikey Stanton
Ryan Stanton
Jorge Poole
Ben Faulkner Luke Jones
Official bio: Formed between Walsall and Birmingham in 2014, The Assist quickly made themselves a staple of the Birmingham music scene, selling out shows at some of the city’s biggest and most iconic venues such as the O2 Academy and the O2 Institute. Their infectious energetic pop has led them to share the stage with NME Award winning act Rat Boy, Manchester chart toppers Blossoms, Happy Monday’s front-man Shaun Ryder and they’ve even ventured into Europe with Black Honey. The band have performed at a range of well-known festivals including Leeds & Reading, Isle of Wight, TRNSMT, YNot, Kendal Calling and even a special in store performance for Dr Martens at Live at Leeds. They even had an appearance on Sky’s Soccer AM and have been backed by the likes of Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson of BBC Radio 6.
The Assist are well known in the West Midlands, but Indieterria attracts readers from all over Europe. Please introduce yourselves to those who haven’t heard about you before.
Ryan Stanton: We’re The Assist, 5 lads from Walsall, who love playing music and having a laugh. We write indie/pop tunes about things going on around us and in our lives. We thrive on making friends and taking all our mates on the journey with us that’s so far taken us from our local pub to the biggest festivals in the country.
The name of the band is truly unique. Would you mind explaining the meaning behind it?
Ryan Stanton: The name sort of grew. We all love football so we started off thinking of football terms, nothing really fit (the free kicks or the penalties). The Assist is also about us helping everyone out with our music, we’ve always got open ears for people who need a chat and everyone can lose themselves and forget about their problems having a dance at our gigs.
The group formed in 2014 and within a year you were considered as one of the leading talents on the Birmingham music scene. Do you remember when you realised that there was something extraordinary in The Assist or were you just wanting to play music you wanted to hear?
Ryan Stanton: It all happened quite fast we never knew a thing about the industry and we came into this with no expectations. We loved the early gigs so much we could never say no to a gig and ended up playing everywhere. It was definitely us just focusing on enjoying ourselves that attracted the attention, it’s so obvious when bands are manufactured and trying to be something.
For many years you existed as a quartet but recently you expanded into a five piece. Please introduce your newest member.
Ryan Stanton: Luke Jones has been our best mate forever. Hes been documenting the band the last few years as our photographer and videographer. The band was just as much his as it is ours so it was a perfect fit. He’d been helping us out with band decisions and guitar parts in the studio for ages so it was a natural progression. We think hes added loads to our sound and live show and we cant wait to show everyone.
The Assist have impressive CV: appearances at biggest festivals, being invited to Soccer Am, touring with This Feeling, sharing stages with Blossoms, Jaws and Shaun Ryder – you must be being stopped in the streets by now and asked for autographs! Jokes aside, but are there any goals or challenges that you still haven’t achieved?
Ryan Stanton: Its been amazing to play shows with some of our heroes but we still feel our music needs to achieve more. A massive goal and challenge for us is the debut album! (laughing)
2019 was a very special year for the band. You managed to accomplish something that no other band on the indie scene have done so far – a trip to Russia. The band appeared at several concerts entertaining large crowds. How do you remember the trip and are you planning to come back?
Ryan Stanton: The trip was a complete blur we did 6 gigs in 5 days and it was literally the best time ever. We met so many amazing people and the gigs were out this world. No words can really do it justice I’m just glad we’ve got a great tour video of it to remember forever. We’d love to go back to Russia but this year might be out the question with recording commitments.
We have to ask about another international trip you have made – this time to Paris. You have played at the famous club “Supersonic” to a full house. Any good memories from that gig? We heard that you had a lot of the fancy French red wine on the rider!
Ryan Stanton:
This was our first away gig and will take some beating. A lot of our mates made the trip with us, think there was around 20 Walsall lads. Hugo the promoter there is a legend and he spent just as much effort organising the after party as he did the gig!
Your new single “I Don’t Care” is catching the attention of the big names in London: John Kennedy at Radio X, Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson at the BBC6 Music among many others. Where was it recorded?
Ryan Stanton: It was recorded at RML in Wolverhampton by Ryan Pinson. Hes done all our releases to date. We cant speak highly enough of him. It’s so great when a band and producer connect and get the best out of each other.
There is a word on the street that you are working on new music to be released in the summer but you are being surprisingly quiet about it. Not a single mention on your social media or in the interviews. Can you shine a bit of a light on the matter?
Ryan Stanton: Is it a new EP or are you putting finishing touches to your debut album? We’ve always been lethargic with releasing new music and now we feel is the time to really knuckle down and get a solid debut album down. We wont rush out so there`s no timescale at the moment unfortunately.
Let’s talk about the upcoming “Discover Birmingham 2020” showcase. On January 11th you will perform alongside Karkosa, Roma Cove and The New Consistent at the Sunflower Lounge. What exactly is this project? How did you become a part of it?
Ryan Stanton: Discover has sort of been born out the Birmingham music scene doing so well. A lot of eyes in the press are on Birmingham so it feels right to start the year with all the best local acts playing the best local venue. We were asked by Birmingham Promoters who put us on the Spinn support a few months ago!
With packed performances at TRNSMT, Y Not, Kendall Calling and Isle of Wight Festivals, it can easily be said that The Assist is leaving the indie circuit for much bigger, more popular pastures. Where is 2020 going to take you?
Ryan Stanton: If you`d of asked us where we’d be st the start of 2019 we would of never said Russia so we literally have no idea. All we know for sure is there`s going to be loads more new music, loads more exciting gigs and loads more good times!
We will be reporting back on The Assist as they release new singles thou out the year. Please keep coming back. And if you see them live – pass our love to the band.
Writing reviews is not always as glamorous as it looks – most of the times you have to sit though excruciatingly bad demos or records that offer very little, even to a die-hard music fan. After a while to save your ears, you start to develop a skill to spot good material without hearing a note. Pro-tip: look at the name. You can learn quite a few things from the way a band named themselves. It can be poetic (“Collective Soul”), abstract (“Talking Heads”) or can hint at close ties among the members (“The Ramones”). So if you see an original and intriguing name – grab that release. Nine times out of ten you will be right.
So, last week when I found in my inbox a single by Portsmouth based duo Drusila, I knew I had quality material for the blog. Just by their name alone. Pop cultural knowledge is your friend when you review music. And a band that chooses a name after a prominent female figure from ancient times will surely indicate an ambitious project.
Drusila: these charming men
I can hear the moans – Drusila is just an old fashioned name. What is there to get excited about.
A little bit of history lesson for you then, before we get to the music.
Drusila (Greek for “morning dew”) was a young and tragic figure in the times of Roman Empire, boasting of incredible political heritage. Her father was famous general Germanicus (seen by his people on par with Alexander the Great for his military conquests) and her mother was Agrippina The Elder (grand -daughter of Emperor Augustus and a powerful persona of Roman society). Drusila`s siblings included: Julia Livilla (“princess of Lesbos”), Agrippina The Younger (empress), emperor Caligula, Nero Julius Caesar and Drusus Caesar (heirs to emperor Tiberius). Her grandmother was empress Julia Augusta. Pomponia Graecina (venerated in Catholic church as St Lucy) was her aunt. After the death of Germanicus at the age of thirty three, Agrippina The Elder returned to Rome with six of her children and started a series of complex political and military intrigues against Emperor Tiberius, whom she blamed for poisoning her husband. The power struggle was so bloody and so intense that it took lives of all six children of Agrippina The Elder before any of them reached age of forty.
In her life Drusila was a prominent member of the royal family and skilled political player. She was also known to be more beautiful than legendary Cleopatra. She had such a close relationship with her brother Caligula that she was seen as his wife and a lover. She divorced twice at Caligula`s request and shared his household. During his illness Caligula named Drusila as the only hair to all his possession and titles. Had he died, Drusila would inherit the throne and would become the first woman to solely rule Roman Empire.
Melancholic visuals are part of the band`s charm and carefully crafted image.
However, it was Drusila who perished first, during a famine at the age of 22. She would not witness executions, assassinations and starvation of all her other siblings. Caligula who was obsessed with his sister to the point of naming himself her husband (and probably marrying her against all rules of the empire) – proclaimed her a goddess and reincarnation of Venus and buried her in a huge public ceremony. Drusila`s death changed Caligula into a tyrant, who pillaged public funds and drove Roman Empire on the brink of collapse.
If you find this somehow familiar – you are right. Drusila and Caligula serve as a blueprint for Cersei and Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones.
You see – a good name can squeeze volumes of information for a reviewer to decode and it is such a intellectual pleasure to meet a band who are ambitious and dig history and even have a good taste in picking up a TV show. They would surely be great to interview and maybe that`s what we will do in the coming weeks.
But now – to the point. The single, “Want You” just came out and I am more than happy to lend my ears and my pen to review this song.
“Want You” is a sultry electro-pop ballad for the romantics on the indie circuit. You can clearly imagine a club night full of kids on the floor dancing to it, and maybe using it to let their secret crush know how they feel about them. But the single is so much more than a perfect Fresher`s Week club filler. Drusila are very clever – they take elements from their contemporaries (like Hurts) but also from older genres: cold wave, 80s synth wave and electronic music to forge their own unique sound. It is hard to believe that George William Robert and Hugo Seckington (who form the duo) started out this year. They sound like a band with at least two-three years of touring and recording experience with a good understanding where they want to be in five – ten years time.
Single cover for Want You – red roses and suits, some very clever references to Morrissey and Depeche Mode. We approve.
Judging from previous singles and videos (“Forget”, “Something For Nothing”) Drusila have a liking for theatrics on stage and spiky hair that would make Robert Smith right at home. Combine that with ability to write beautiful pop melodies and you have a very interesting mix.
Forget single cover – we do love the spiky hair (and eyeliner!)
On reviewer described Drusila as a “strange affair between The Cure, Hurts and Pet Shop Boys” and I am a bit jealous that I didn’t come with this line myself. It summarizes their sound so nicely. From my end I will definitely add that they have ambition and talent to back up their impressive influences. So it seems we have a duo that we need to keep an eye on. Those boys will be here for a long while. Lucky us.
Something For Nothing single sleeve – bringing to mind the 80s cult series The Twilight Zone. We said. we love the references Drusila envoke in their visuals.
That`s all for us this time around. I will leave you with one more stunning visual from Drusila – in the studio. As this blog goes live, the band has been featured on BBC Introducing and has a session at Rough Trade. The only way up for them boys is up.
So much is going on dear readers, that we don’t know where to start! Interviews, pictures, secret gigs being organized (maybe in Birmingham, or maybe not 😊), plans and collaborations – we are 24hrs party people, only our party is a long-time marketing campaign! It is an exciting time to be alive as our friend says, but we wish our day had 48 hours instead of 24. Or well, you only live once.
Saturday, the 9th of June is coming closer and closer and we cannot wait! We will have a mini Worcester invasion with HVMM playing at The Flapper, Lost Tigers appearing at the Bishop and Actress and Dead Dads Club coming back to The Sunflower Lounge to rock you like a hurricane. Please use the links below to purchase the tickets and support The Racket, Jack Fletcher Band and our Malvern boys in DDC, if you are looking for a quality entertainment. Always support your local DIY scene. Those bands are the future of the British guitar music!
Poster for gig at the legendary Sunflower Lounge on 9th June 2018
Today, we would like to present you with the last interview we did to promote the show. The Jack Fletcher Band is one of Wolverhampton’s finest new bands and you just have to see them live. We talked to lead singer and guitarist, Jack Fletcher about the band’s name (quite obvious!), playing with Johnny Brown of Twisted Wheel and their new upcoming music. No beating about bush, only simple and straightforward answers. This is what we like!
Band`s logo
Jack Fletcher (vocals, guitar)
Tom Robinson (drummer)
Henry Bradley (bass)
George Hadley (lead guitar)
Official bio: The Jack Fletcher Bans is an indie-rock four piece from Wolverhampton that can only be described as real rock with their stripped back guitar music, Midlands twang and their live-for-the moment attitude.
After the split of his former band “The Town”, lead vocalist Jack Fletcher began his solo career before meeting fellow band members: Tom Robinson (drummer) and Henry Bradley (bass) on a music technology course at university. From this friendship and the introduction of George Hadley (lead guitar), The Jack Fletcher Band was formed. Combining influences from mod bands such as The Jam & The Who with the rock and roll sounds of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.
To date these Black Country lads have played numerous festivals and venues including Lakefest (supporting the likes of Primal Scream, The Coral, Cast and Star Sailor), Party in the Pines Festival, Wolverhampton’s Slade Rooms, Notting Hill Arts Club, Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham and the legendary Band on the Wall in Manchester.
With their unique and timeless compositions, youthful spirit and optimistic outlook, The Jack Fletcher Band are a group that will stand the test of time. They are a band that not only defines the present, but a band that embodies the culture and guts of those that came before them and will continue to do so for years to come.
Before we start, let`s have a proper introduction to all the members of the band. Please tell us who is who?
Jack Fletcher: Hi. My name is Jack Fletcher and I’m the lead singer and I play guitar. The rest of the band is George Hadley on lead guitar, Henry Bradley on bass and Tom Robinson on drums.
You have been performing under The Jack Fletcher Band moniker for quite some time now. It is simple yet memorable name. Did you choose it on purpose or was it last minute decision that just stayed with you? Are you tempted to change it to something else?
Jack Fletcher: We decided on The Jack Fletcher Band as the band’s name wasn’t really something we cared about. I wasn’t really good at picking names so we picked the worst name that we could find (laughing). Joking aside, it’s just stuck with us.
Your biography mentions that the band started out after a group of incredibly talented musicians took the same music course at the university. It is a perfect script material. Was it really a random encounter or did you know each other before?
Jack Fletcher: We all knew each other. Myself, Henry and Tom – we all really met at college and George was a friend of Jack’s early on… and the rest is a history (laughing).
Jack, before forming this group, you fronted The Town, an accomplished act in its own right. Can you tell us more about your project?
Jack Fletcher: The Town was my first real band. We played all around the country when we were around 16 -17 years old. Looking back on it, that’s a big achievement in itself really. We did well and we were so very young. But we enjoyed it.
Jack Fletcher Band in black and white
You have wonderful working relationship with Twisted Wheel. You supported them several times and in return Johnny Brown performed with you on stage. How did your collaboration start?
Jack Fletcher: We were always big fans of Johnny’s music and we met him at an acoustic gig in Derby some time ago and our friendship has been good ever since. We see him as a hero, but please don’t tell him that (laughing). He is a good friend.
The video to song “Has it all gone wrong” beautifully directed by Benjamin Harrp amassed over 100k views on social media. We have to admit, we absolutely love this song. It is very emotional. Any back story behind this track?
Jack Fletcher: Thank you! The story behind this track is very simple. I personally believe everyone can relate to it. Anything can go wrong in life but I suppose, it is always for the right reasons. The song is very emotional but I think it has a positive ending. You know, “keep on keeping on”, that sort of thing. And we are glad to hear that people can relate to the song’s tune and its lyrics.
Another of our favourites “What are you waiting for” was produced by Ryan Pinson at RML Studios in Wolverhampton. Pinson is known for working with several upcoming independent artists such as Jump The Shark, Wax Futures and Cosmic Rays. His style is crisp, a bit raw and energetic. Was that what you wanted to highlight in your song?
Jack Fletcher: Writing a good song is one thing but getting it produced well and making it sound like you do live is very difficult. Ryan’s a legend. He is an excellent producer and he can do his stuff very well. Always brings the best out of our music and that’s very important for us.
As Vanadian Avenue is based in Worcester, we have to mention that you have played on our home turf at Worcester Music Festival in 2017. How do you remember it? We hope The Faithful City provided you with a solid crowd and good memories.
JFB live on stage
Jack Fletcher: Yeah we have played in Worcester a few times. To be honest sometimes a bit too early for us to have half-decent crowd. You seem to put up shows very early guys, but the experience hasn’t been bad all bad (laughing).
On 9th of June you will join The Racket and Dead Dads Club at The Sunflower Lounge for a true rock and roll celebration. Are you preparing something special for the gig?
Jack Fletcher: We will try and impress people at gig on Saturday. That’s what we always intend to do anyway. We are not planning anything special, we will give it our all and maybe play a new tune.
Your schedule this year is fully packed. Where can your fans see you next? Any summer festivals or important concerts we should be on the look out for?
Jack Fletcher: We’ve got a quite a few things coming up and we are getting quite busy again. But everything still needs to be confirmed. Always come to our social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to check things out. You will not be disappointed.
As mentioned already, the band is available on all important social media platforms, so take your pick!
Talking to the bands is one thing, but seeing them live is a completely different set of vinyls. Hopefully we will see you in Sunflower Lounge this Saturday. Bring your friends, a pair of comfortable shoes and let’s dance the night away!
Au revoir la haut à mes amis (just because speaking in French is hot these days)
xoxox
Rita and Malicia
The first half of 2018 is behind us but your two faithful A&R’s are not stopping for an inch! In the last week we have travelled with Nuns of the Tundra to HowTheLightsGetIn festival, witnessed them play a semi acoustic gig at Paradiddles Cafe for Before The Music workshops (similar in form to the “Story Tellers” on MTV if you are old enough to remember it!) and wave them off to go to Swindon for a meeting with a producer!
That’s not all! The Americas and Soeur were chosen by BBC Hereford and Worcester to play at the Wychwood Festival and you can see a short video of The Americas playing one of their best gigs on Vanadian Avenue Facebook page. In short, it was a crazy 7 days but we are having the time of our lives (as usual anyway)!
New week and we have a brand new interview for you dear readers. We have sat down with Lee Richardson, lead singer of the Dead Dads Club, to discuss Malvern blooming rock and roll scene, new tracks and their love for the DIY, guitar driven scene led by bands such as The Blinders. Dead Dads Club will support The Racket on their first national tour and you can catch them both (plus the Jack Fletcher Band) at the Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham on the 9th of June. The show is organized by the great people at Modern Age Music and you can find more information about the show here:
Poster for gig at the legendary Sunflower Lounge on 9th June 2018
We have to admit that we giggled like schoolgirls reading the interview and Lee’s sense of humour (bit dry and sarcastic) made it one of the funniest interviews we ever hosted on Indieterria.
So, please enjoy!
Lee Richardson (vocals, guitar)
Matt Rawlings (bass)
James Devine (drums)
Milo Ferreira-Hayes (lead guitar)
Official bio: Hailing from Malvern, Worcestershire, The Dead Dads Club consist of four close friends: Lee, Milo, James and Matt. Lee Richardson (lead vocals) is known for composing meaningful lyrics that everyone can relate to. There is a rich deepness as much as sense of humour backed up by strong, dynamic rock and roll acoustic steele string guitar. Lee’s chords are graced by Milo Ferreira-Hayes on lead guitar. Their partnership creates a unique sound with strong arrangements and lush solos. Then comes James Devine with his powerful drumming and unmatched beats that strongly root the band inside the alternative and independent genres. Matt Rawlings’ atmospheric and hypnotic bass completes the musical equation. The Dead Dads Club tour consistently and played many important venues in West Midlands such as The Sunflower Lounge, O2 Arena and O2 Institute in Birmingham, Gifford Arms in Wolverhampton or Marr’s Bar in Worcester. They shared stages with The Racket, HVMM, Nuns of the Tundra, Jump the Shark, Matchboy, Juniper Nights, Winchester, Ruben Seabright, The Soviets and many more.
According to your bio, The Dead Dads Club are four good friends with similar musical interests and outlook on life. You listen to the same records and laugh at the same (apparently unfunny) jokes. Please introduce yourselves to the readers of Indieterria.
Lee Richardson: All right, let’s get started.First, we have JD or James Devine. Our drummer is 23-year-old history graduate. Has a tendency to throw his drumsticks mid-song and he’s a huge music fan. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, although he never shuts up (laughing). Matt Rawlings. Bass. 19 years old. Studying music at college. Saved the band when our previous bass player Liam left as I was ready to jack it in. Intelligent but quietly reserved, and says what he needs to. Milo. Lead guitar. 17 years old. Studying music with Matt in Hereford. Channels Jimmy Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan while he continues to develop his own style. Highly intelligent, loves the ladies (and some men). He’ll go places. Lee Richardson. Rhythm guitar, vocals. 30 something. Loves the band, they’ve become his family. Came late to the music game but is glad he did. Also, what really brings us together is we’re fed up of what is considered “popular music” these days. Where the hell are the guitar bands in the charts? We aim to be part of the wave of new guitar bands that will bring back indie music to the masses. Its due, and it’s going to happen. Bands like The Blinders will lead the way for this new wave.
We heard there is a good story surrounding your first meeting. How and where have you met?
Lee Richardson: Actually, there is (laughing). I met JD first, in a pub over Christmas in 2016. He’d put an Oasis track on the jukebox and in my drunken state, I stumbled over to his table and asked who the Oasis fan was. Initially, JD thought I was coming over to start trouble so… (laughing again). Anyway, we started chatting and he joined me at some open mic night accompanying me on Cajon. At one such open mic, we were just sitting down as a tall, good looking kid walked in with a guitar and amp in hand. He set up and started banging out “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” by Hendrix note for note perfect. Jaws dropped around the pub, and I was introduced to Milo 10 minutes later. Milo, being an old soul in a young body (he’s 17), decided he was going to adopt us and he started joining JD and I on stage. Matt came into the band last as a replacement for Liam Blakemore, who left us after becoming a father last year.
The Dead Dads Club is a highly unusual name. We did a little research about it and the results are very inconclusive. We found an episode of a popular American TV series “Grey’s Anatomy” bearing that title, a book, an independently released murder-mystery stage play and a scientific paper. What is the inspiration behind the band’s name?
Lee Richardson: A friend of mine, Tristan James (who is an incredible rapper and lyricist by the way) and I were working on some songs together two years ago. Tristan’s dad had passed away two years before and mine had just died around the time. We made a joke that we should call ourselves The Dead Dads Club. Some found it distasteful, we found it funny and as time went on, it proved to be an attention grabber. As the band was developing in its infancy, we moved forward without Tristan as we felt that we wouldn’t be able to accommodate rap within our music, and that Tristan’s talents needed to have the sole emphasis placed on him alone. We still work together and have a collaboration between DDC and Tristan James coming out this year.
The original line-up of The Dead Dads Club included Liam Blakemore on bass and Milo Ferreira-Hayes on lead guitar. Currently you have a newcomer, Matt Rawlings on guitar and Milo moved on to play bass. How long have you been working with Matt? When did he join the band?
Lee Richardson: We have been working with Matt just under a year now. We were lucky to find him after Liam left the band to concentrate on his new family.
Talking about Matt, we have noticed that him and Milo have a tendency of swapping guitars during gigs. Is it done only for certain songs or are you trying to totally confuse the audience?
Lee Richardson: Matt is actually a lead guitarist first and foremost, but we dragged him into the band as we needed a bass player. Luckily, he could hold his own on the bass. Matt and Milo swap their instruments over on a song called “Stop”. When we recorded the studio version, Milo was laying down his lead track, when I suggested an idea of putting something “Hendrixy” into the solo. Matt immediately heard something in his head, grabbed Milo’s guitar and played the most amazing little lick that had Milo put his hands to his head in disbelief and proclaim: “You’re a @*%^”! Please insert the swear word of your choice! We all still laugh about it months later. We have another new track in development about an unsuccessful application to play at a local festival that Matt will again take guitar duties on. And yes, we love to confuse the audience. It’s what we do best!
Your home town of Malvern is relatively small but it has long musical tradition and a vibrant scene. You are part of the local pack along with Nuns of the Tundra, Ruben Seabright, UltraMegaOK and White Feather Collective. Any explanation for such a high concentration of talent per square mile?
Lee Richardson: Malvern has always attracted arty types from all over the country. It has also produced many talented locals in many endeavors aside from just music. There’s good music everywhere, but I think a lot of people are scared to put it out into the open as they’re worried what people will think. Bands like the Nuns of The Tundra and The White Feather Collective have got the balls to believe in themselves and their songs and they should. They set the standard in Malvern for sure and I’d argue further afield than that as well. The Malvern scene has been very supportive of us playing our own songs, and that has provided us with a platform to build on to play bigger towns and cities. Of course, others would say the high concentration of talent is just down to the Malvern spring water (laughing).
Dead Dads Club’s music has been compared to The Beatles, The Stone Roses, The Doors, Oasis, Crosby Stills Young and Nash, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Ryan Adams and Arctic Monkeys – that’s some of the biggest names in popular music. Tell us what inspires you to write?
Lee Richardson: Have we? Jesus, we should be playing Wembley by now then if that’s the case (laughing). Our influences vary, but all those bands have been massive for me when I was growing up. I have one goal when I write and that’s to infect a person’s mind with the melody or the hook. If I see people dancing, tapping their feet or getting emotional when they hear Dead Dads Club track, then my job is done. My lyrics aren’t really deep or even that good. It’s hard to write meaningful lyrics when you have a heart of stone (laughing again). Most of the tracks have been inspired by either ex-girlfriends, stalkers or life events. I don’t look at the moon on a dark starry night and have flood of beautiful Dylan-esque lyrics come to the forefront of my mind’s eye. I’ll leave that to all the Joni Mitchells of this world. I’m rather in-your-face rock n roll writer with attitude and swagger. That’s enough for us.
Your shows attract large number of guest musicians and singers. We are especially interested in James Burnham who joined you on stage playing electric violin many times. Any chances of seeing him performing with you again?
Lee Richardson: James was an original member of Dead Dads Club along with Liam, Milo, JD and myself. Our sound changed after Liam left the band, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to accommodate a violin within a setting that was chasing a heavier charged more electric sound. James Burnham is probably the most talented musical mind I’ve met and I plan on doing more acoustic recordings with him as a duo to add to the songs we’ve already recorded together.
Recently you played three gigs in one day. Were you celebrating a special occasion or trying to beat the Guinness World Book record for the biggest number of gigs played in a single day?
Lee Richardson: We already have a record for band with the most special needs, so we’ll settle for that one for now (laughing). We played at a 21st birthday party in Malvern and did an acoustic set to start things rolling, before packing up and heading to play at The Brickroom in Worcester. We then headed back to the party to play a full electric set. It was a good day and the alcohol certainly helped us along the way!
You have been working hard on your new batch of songs. So far you have given us three titles: “After the War”, “Chant” and “Buttons of Gold”. Can you tell us more about those songs?
Lee Richardson: We have such a backlog of tracks, it’s hard to decide what to bring to the set next! The first song you are asking about “After the War” was written by Matt and myself after consuming half a bottle of Jack one Sunday afternoon. Matt’s been listening to a lot of Jeff Buckley recently and wrote the trip chords. I wrote the lyrics and melody there and then. Not sure why, but I had images of a post-apocalyptic Earth ravaged by the aftermath of fallen society. So, I just wrote the story that was forming in my head and we had the track recorded as a demo within an hour. Another demo recording, entitled temporarily as “Chant” in short is a peace protest kind of song. I channeled the “Hey Jude” chorus and came up with my own interpretation of that massive crowd singalong. We’re currently rehearsing “Chant” to add to the set, but “After the War” will probably end up as just a standalone song. It would be very difficult to reproduce the haunting sound we got on the recording on stage, unless we used multiple effects peddles and we don’t believe in overdoing it with those. “Buttons of Gold” is brand new track inspired in a way by the sound that The Blinders have made their own. It’s about an experience that Jimi Hendrix had when he came to London in the 1960’s with two policemen who stopped him for wearing a WW2 military veterinary core jacket but really because of the color of his skin, let’s face it. I encourage everyone to read up on it, it’s interesting. I won’t bore you with the details here (laughing). Anyway, we’ll be playing “Buttons of Gold” for the first time in public at the Sunflower Lounge gig on June 9th. We are supporting another good guitar band, The Racket so come and see us there.
Next months will surely be very busy for you. What’s in store for the Dead Dads Club? Anything we need to know?
Lee Richardson: We’re having a month off in July to re-charge and find new inspiration. Our EP is ready to roll now, and that’ll be out in August. We’ll be throwing a release party at Carnival records in Malvern, and playing a set there too. The momentum has been building nicely thanks to support from the Nuns and local promoters, and we’re going to build on this massively this year, guaranteed. Long live rock n roll…and cheeseburgers.
We cannot wait to see Lee, Milo, James and Matt rocking The Sunflower stage again! Last time Dead Dads Club played there, they gave their best and the audience loved them. Some tickets are still available, so do yourself a favor and come see them live.
The Blinders might be leading the musical revolution, but Dead Dads Club are following their footsteps!
Please come back soon as we have another great interview to show you before the big day next Saturday!!
Oh! February is an extremely busy month for everyone at Vanadian Avenue. After talking to Dharma Bums about their new EP “Nothing to Lose Blues” and grilling Andrew Marston from BBC Hereford and Worcester about their new radio show, here we are throwing questions left and right at another very talented young band!
Named after a street in Birmingham, Lower Loveday are a four piece outfit that connects pop melodies with a edgy rockier sound. They are perfect for Top 20 chart and a mosh pit pogo at your local venue. We have caught up with the guys from LLD a day before their big gig at O2 Institute and had a quick chat about winning talents shows while at school, travelling to Australia and their music.
Lower Loveday logo
The band that was meant to be – Lower Loveday interview
Tom Garbett (drums)
Stuart Creed (bass),
Chris Francis (lead guitar/vocals)
Mark Washington (vocals)
Official bio: The band has its roots way back to Year 8 in school, when Mark (Vocals) & Tom (Drums) entered the end of year talent show in a band. From then we always assumed that it would always happen one day, although this was delayed by education. Then having both met up during travelling in Australia, we decided to go for it when we got back and follow our dreams and get a band going! With this then Tom got writing some songs whilst the two of us practised. We knew there was potential, not only in the song but in us as a combination. We then begun our quest to fill out the remaining positions in the band. And after a long and tiring journey we finally found our perfect fit in the form of Chris (Lead Guitar), who manages to provide the perfect guitar part to support our melodies and hooks. Along with Stuart (Bass) who has added his unique blend of punchy but melodic bass playing to fill out the rhythm section… Now nothing can stop us in reinventing the music wheel and creating something the world has not yet heard and therefore needs!
There then Lower Loveday was truly born.
*******
Lower Loveday promo picture
Lower Loveday is an incredibly poetic name. Where does it come from? Is the band named after a single by Britpop heroes Menswe@r or have you been inspired by a picturesque canal side street leading to the Jewellers Quarter in Birmingham?
Lower Loveday: Thank you very much! Our name actually comes from the street in Birmingham you mentioned. Tom, our drummer, lived on Lower Loveday Street during his second year at the university and always thought it would make a good name for a band. We didn’t have any other names, so we went with it and it actually means something to us.
Your biography is full of surprises. Is it true that the first incarnation of the band was formed for Year 8 talent show?
Lower Loveday: (laughing) Yes, that is absolutely correct! Tom and Mark went to school together and were very friendly throughout. It was the Year 8 talent show when for the first time music brought them properly together. It was also a bonus that they won it but after that they didn’t really pursue the music that much yet then.
After playing for a while at school, you seem to go separate ways only to meet again years later on the other side of the world…in Australia! We are sure, Hollywood will soon come knocking on your door asking for movie rights!
Lower Loveday: We wish! Yes, we’d joked a couple of times before both going our separate ways that we’d be in a band together in the future but university put us on different paths. It wasn’t until we both went travelling (separately!) and then we met in Sydney. After a drunken sing-along, we realised the band we’d been joking about previously, was actually a possibility. At this moment, Lower Loveday consist of: Tom Garbett – he’s our drummer and also the principal songwriter, on bass guitar we have Stuart Creed, on lead guitar is Chris Francis and on vocals is Mark Washington.
Your music has been compared to Kasabian, Kings of Leon, The Arctic Monkeys, The Blossoms and (a little bit) to Oasis. Those are huge names and it must be flattering to be likened to the most important rock groups of the last two decades. How do you feel about it?
Lower Loveday: We’ve said it before that those bands are our main influences. We weren’t aware we’d actually be compared to all of them but if that’s actually the case then that is incredibly flattering. To achieve even half of what those names have would be amazing.
We absolutely love two of your tracks: “You Could Have Been My Queen” and “Chains”. Can you please tell us more about these songs?
Lower Loveday: It’s funny that you like both songs as, ironically, they came along at pretty much the same time in terms of song-writing. We knew then that they were a bit of a game changer for us. They had a different, very unique “pop” quality to them that the other songs we wrote at that point had not. We haven’t written anything like them before. And so as soon as we showed them to people and started playing them, everyone just really loved them and we knew we had something there.
Lower Loveday received some good response from the music business. BBC Hereford and Worcester called your single “You Could Have Been My Queen” fresh and exciting and New Musical Express included your music profile on their website as one of the upcoming bands from Birmingham. Three of your singles, “Loved You”, “You Could Have Been My Queen” and “Anything You Wanted Me To” also received a lot of airplay from Brum Radio, Cannock Chase Radio, Uckfield FM and The Bugcast.
The band on stage
Lower Loveday: We thought we knew almost everything that has been written or said about us but we missed a few here. Being anywhere on NME is amazing! We initially started just being happy to receive any sort of air time on anything but when BBC Introducing H&W played pretty much every song we uploaded it really makes you think! Maybe these tunes we think are great, aren’t actually that bad!
On the 24th of February, you will be performing at SoundWaves Music Competition UK Final at the O2 Academy in Birmingham. Of course we are keeping our fingers crossed. Where did you learn about this competition and what will happen during the finale?
Lower Loveday: It may be hard to believe but finding the competition was as simple as just googgling ‘music competitions’ on the Internet. Or vocalist Tom found few good links and we applied for several. As far as we know, at SoundWaves 15 acts are due to perform in the finals and we will get a small slot to impress as many people and judges a possible. We think the winner will be announced on the night. It’s a great opportunity for us to perform on a big stage and it gives us a chance to play in front of an A&R’s and representatives from many labels. Hopefully we will go out and get our name out there even more.
Worcester News – 23 February 2018 (page 21)
You recently started working on new material to be released later in the year. Are you finally recording your full debut album?
Lower LoveDay: Yes, we are currently working on several new songs. We went back into the studio just before Christmas to lay down the initial parts for two more songs which we’ll be completing very soon. The goal is to just keep recording tunes until we have enough for an album and then release when the right time comes (laughing)
Your website is warning that a musical storm is brewing. When can we see you live on stage? Any upcoming gigs we should be aware of?
Lower LoveDay: We came up with that phrase initially to lure people into listening and to create a sort of intrigue about us but it’s something we’ve seem to have kept going with from the start as it hasn’t done too badly! After this weekend’s final, we have a gig the following Sunday 4th March at The Fleece in Bristol which is going to be a full day of live music and a festival slot in August at Venture Festival in Nottingham! We will be adding new information as they come!
The competition starts at 19:00 PM at O2 Institute so please come and support our local talents if you can!
We are keeping our fingers crossed for you guys!
The Americas – it is rock and roll (and we like it)
There is definitely something really exciting happening in rock and roll at the moment. Bands such as The Blinders, Idles or The Velvet Hands are like a breath of fresh air. Let’s not forget The Himalayas, Shame, The Strawberries or Bang Bang Romeo. Then, there are The Americas – Worcester based trio quickly joining their ranks. We sat down with the band to discuss wide range of topics: appreciation of their music, travelling with This Feeling circuit, performing at the BBC Music Introducing Amplify conference in London, their admiration for Big Moon and the troubles in the US of A.
Harry Payne (guitar/vocals/harmonica)
Aaron Whittaker (guitar/keys/vocals)
Alexander Bradshaw (drums)
Don’t you find it a little bit ironic that band considered being the hope of British rock is called The Americas?
The Americas: We are not sure who exactly considers us the hope of British rock music but we guess a British band being called The Americas is always going to be a bit of a talking point! (laughter)
The band was formed at the end of 2015 and quickly developed a large fan following. Tell us more about your beginnings.
The Americas: It was a pretty natural thing for us. Aaron Whittaker and Harry Payne were always writing and singing songs, listening to the same records and going out to the same shows. Somewhere along the way, we decided to take it a little bit more seriously and started to jam with other musicians. We poached drummer Alex from a psych band that was doing the rounds in Birmingham at the time and immediately shut ourselves away for a year. We played a handful of one off gigs through the first half of ’16 trying to work out what on earth we were and what sort of sounds we made, but most of those early days were spent throwing ideas around and just hanging out in our little practice room.
You are the only band from Worcestershire (except for RISCAS) that has been included in the famous This Feeling circuit, a music company that includes band management, a record label, and a series of national live shows. It is run by Mikey Jonns and hosts the biggest names in rock: Kasabian, The Rifles, Noel Fielding, and Noel Gallagher. What does a local band just starting out have to do to be added to their roster?
The Americas: This Feeling have been very kind to us and have offered us a lot of great opportunities this year. We are not sure if there’s a simple tick list when it comes to building relationships and working with promotions companies/record labels or whatever. We just love to play our music for people and we really mean every one of our songs. I think the key is being honest and transparent. There’s a lot of confused music around.
The Americas – photo from band`s archives
You are often described as “music to ride your motorcycle to” but we do not find this accurate. We rather see you as a very intriguing combination of classic southern rock (think The Black Crowes in their Amorica era) with eloquence of the college rock (think Collective Soul or LIVE), a bit of post grunge but with a lot of back ground in modern independent British music: The Libertines, The Sherlocks, Razorlight, Primal Scream. Best of both worlds really.
The Americas: (laughing) You can listen to us while you ride a motorcycle if that’s what you want to do, but yeah, trying to label/categorise music is always a weird one. We are glad you hear lots of different things in our sound. We listen to anything and everything from Gospel Rock to Motown, Punk, Trip-Hop or whatever… You’ve got to keep your ears on their toes so to speak.
The Americas regularly share stages with well established acts. You have supported The Twang at a sold out show at 02 Academy Birmingham, you played along The Bluetones, Blaenavon and Trampolene among others. Is there anyone else on the contemporary music scene you would like to play with?
The Americas: Tons and tons of artists. Our dream show would be to play with Courtney Barnett. She’s a poet and a badass player and she’s just got that magnetism you know? A really, really fantastic song writer. If we’re bringing it a little closer to home, we really dig what those Big Moon girls are doing. We think that would be a sweet show.
Popular online music magazine Gigslutz stated that 2017 belongs to the Americas and awarded you the title of the Best Newcomer 2016. You have beaten several bands heavily championed by national radio stations such as Cabbage or Hinds, a Spanish all female rock sensation with an album on the official UK top 40. How do you feel about it?
The Americas: Yeah that was nice of them. We’d only officially been a band for a couple of months at that point. It’s nice to see publications back completely independent bands.
The Americas live at The Truck Festival in 2017
Gigslutz praise is not the only one. You have won backing from some of the industry heavyweights: Mikey Jonns of This Feeling, Hall or Nothing music promoter Caffy St. Luce, New Musical Express magazine. Everyone agrees that you stand out of the crowd. Right next to Soeur and The Assist, you are the face of West Midlands music scene. It must come with some pressure. Did you expect such fantastic response to what you do?
The Americas: We don’t feel pressure when it comes to our music. Only the pressure that the songs themselves demand. The pressure to do each of them justice in our own minds when we go out and play live. We’ve always done what comes naturally to us. If everyone hated the music we write, we’d still be writing it. It’s a personal thing and we get a real kick out of seeing these songs take form. Obviously it’s a great feeling when other people have a good reaction to the material too, and we love it when we look out and people are singing the words back to us. We really love and appreciate our fans for sure.
On October 7th you performed at the BBC Amplify conference in London in front of a huge crowd. Were you excited? Did you prepare anything special to sweep The Beeb bosses off their feet?
The Americas: We’re always excited to go out and play music together and we’re really happy to have been invited along to perform. The BBC has a really great thing going on in terms of it’s Introducing program. Unfortunately we haven’t prepared any dance routines or indoor firework displays this time (laughing).
In all, Amplify was a great experience for us despite the face that we got told last minute that the slot would be acoustic one so we were a little gutted not to have been able to put on a full show. Saying that though, it was still good to have a few beers and mingle with so many fellow musicians and music industry types. No tricks to sweep anyone off their feet no. We think it’s much more important to let the music and performance do the talking in those scenarios.
Your live performances are usually described as perfectly choreographed and prepared in the tiniest detail, yet they contain a great deal of spontaneity and wildness. It’s the good old rock and roll, freedom and creativity.
The Americas: We absolutely love live performances. Putting on a good show is very important to us. It’s a modern world and there’s not a lot of patience out there and you can see it reflected in the nature of the social landscape these days. Throw-away Instagram/Facebook stories that last for 24 hours and then are lost forever. People scrolling through news feeds, and watching the first 5 seconds of 100 different viral videos and not taking any of it in. It’s hard to get noticed in a world of quantity over quality, but we believe in our material and we play it with passion whether we’re performing to 5 people or 5000 people. We want our audience to feel that passion. We want to help them to feel free, even for a short while.
The sleeve to Something`s Gonna Happen single
Several online websites mentioned that you are about to enter the studio to record an album. Is there any truth in these claims? If so, is it going to be an independent release or issued through a record label?
The Americas: We’ve been in and out of the studio throughout September getting down some new material. We’re really excited with how things are sounding and can’t wait to get the music out there. We haven’t figured out what shape our next release is going to take just yet though. Watch this space.
We are very tempted to ask you. Razorlight put it nicely in their song – “All my life, there’s trouble in America”. What does The Americas think of the recent troubles over the Pond: the orange individual, the travel bans and the wall?
The Americas: It’s fair to say none of us would have voted for Trump if we were US citizens. The times are turbulent and confusing and we have problems of our own in this country also. It’s really sad. We’re supporters of basic human freedoms. It’s enough to keep you up at night, isn’t it? It’s important to do the smaller things. Do right to others. Show compassion. Be human.
The last but not least – what are your plans for the nearest future? Are we going to see you playing local gigs anytime soon?
The Americas: Our plan for the near future is to put out another single by March and then continue to write, release and perform our music as much as possible. Maybe a few tours up our sleeve and hopefully another great festival season. Keep your eyes on the Facebook for announcements. Our next gig is at The Lexington in London with The Blinders on 21st of February, we are also trying to confirm few more dates as well. Otherwise, we just plan to keep on living the impossible dream and hoping not to die in the process! (laughter)
You can follow The Americas using the links below:
Band on the run (or few weeks in the life of a band of the year)
We don`t know how to describe the last few months but you simply cannot follow The Americas fast enough. They are like Tasmanian Devil or The Roadrunner. You think you got them covered, but they are ahead of you by two miles by the time you say “Something`s Gonna Happen”. The speed in which the band makes ripples on national level is shocking. That`s a correct word – we hardly see bands progressing at such rate. Just few examples – hold on tight.
The band recorded a session for BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester at the Phoenix Theatre in Ross-on-Wye in October 2017. This live session has been broadcasted on Saturday November 18th (right before Thanksgiving Day – nice one Beeb!) to rave reviews from listeners.
BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester broadcasted The Americas session on November 18, 2017
Images from the live session can be seen here:
This week's specially featured act is The Americas who were formed by Harry Payne (vocals/bass) and Aaron Whittaker…
And then all hell broke loose. On December 23rd 2017 The Americas have been featured on national radio – BBC 6 Music as part of Tom Robinson Show. If you don’t know Tom from his musical career that spans four decades (“2-4-6-8 Motorway“), you may know him from his career as DJ and his own portal that champions new music (Fresh on the Net). Tom is one of the biggest taste makers in United Kingdom and one of the most cherished DJs on BBC 6 Music. Having a spin on his show – is not a small feat. Being featured on Christmas show is like winning a lottery. No wonder that The Americas response was very emotional.
The Americas reacted to being played on BBC 6 Music on December 24 2017
Early January seen The Americas being featured in influential Some Might Say Zine – as one of the bands that will shape 2018. We ordered a copy for our archives and this is how it looks. Sahera Walker – the founder of Some Might Say keeps a hand on the pulse when it comes to new musical icons and believe us – she hardly gets it wrong.
This is not the first time, Some Might Say mention The Americas. Back in August 2017, Sahera wrote about the band:
“The Americas, man, what a band. A group I bang on about a lot on here, they’re an undeniably brilliant force of pure classy rock’n’roll. Despite the name, The Americas are quintessentially British, with their riffs and the way they play epitomizing perfectly classic old school British rock’n’roll. They use a keyboard in their music, accompanied by this raw feel good guitar rock sound, which is a unique and refreshing set up for a band”.
We agree wholeheartedly.
Cover of Some Might Say Zine #2 (January 2018)
The Americas featured in Some Might Say Zine #2 (January 2018) as one of the bands of 2018
On 6th January 2018 BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester unveiled their own top ten of best bands for 2017 and guess who was ranked at #2? Yep, The Americas. At this stage, we were not surprised to hear Andrew Marston praise the band for their melodic songs and incredible energy. The show featured “Something`s Gonna Happen” being aired, followed by a short interview with the artists.
The Americas being ranked at #2 of BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester – Best Band of 2017 on January 6th 2018
This is what Northern Exposure had to say about The Americas:
“They are a sensational hard rock ‘n’ blues get up with a blow-the-house-down set that could translate into a debut album perfectly.”
Northern Exposure is overseen by two lead women – Rachel Brown and Kate O`Brien who beside running the magazine, also manage and promote local artists, book gigs and mentor young acts. Similarly to Sahera Walker of Some Might Say, ladies of Northern Exposure are very active and know their craft well.
Same day (January 10th 2018), two gigs were announced. On January 24th The Americas would play a gig in London at The Rock Steady sharing the stage with Sleaze, Black Orchids and Willow Robinson as part of Independent Venue Week.
Poster for Independent Venue Week gig at The Rock Steady in London, 24 January 2017
The other show would take place on 21st February, also in London, but at The Lexicon. Here The Americas are to support The Blinders – one of the most influential bands that come of the UK in the last 30 years. We are not kidding. If you haven’t familiarized yourself yet with The Blinders, you got to tackle this unforgivable faux pas right now. Before people start regarding you as an uncultured savage.
Tour poster for The Blinders upcoming tour
The Americas/The Blinders combo is unreal and we think this is going to be equivalent of all those legendary gigs that people talk about for years. We are actually thinking of attending. Though it may prove tricky.
Announcement at the Northern Exposure regarding InMusic Festival semi-finals.
Of course not a day goes by without another announcement. On January 11th, The Northern Exposure in association with EUFest and Musicians Against Homelessness unveiled semi finals for InMusic Festival. 20 upcoming bands fight for a slot at the main stage at InMusic Festival in Croatia to support such legends as Nick Cave and Queens of the Stone Age. Guess who got their place among best acts? The Americas will have to go though two more stages (music industry insight and live performance) to win this opportunity of a life time – but they already proved to be more than your average indie outfit.
Right. That would be just about last four -five weeks in the life of a band that is tipped for one of the best acts of 2018. You see now why.
We will keep reporting.
Mal+Rita
***Update: 15.01.2018***
Few days passed and we have to make an update as so many things have happened. Where to begin? Let`s start with the show in London on 21st February at the Lexington where The Americas will support mighty The Blinders. Well that gig is now sold out (two tickets left as we write so technically no chances to get in). The Blinders so far have two other shows on their upcoming tour being sold out and one of them is on their home turf in Manchester.
The Americas announce their gig at the Lexington in London with The Blinders is a sold out affair -15.01.2018
Not only will The Americas play with one of the most exciting bands on the planet, it will also be a full house. If that doesn’t make you want to bounce off the walls in joy, then you must be (no rock and roll) fun at parties! A shout out to fellow A&Rs in London Town. Get yourself on the guest list. This show will be epic.
Another good news is that “Something`s Gonna Happen” is currently being a Tune of the Week at BBC Hereford & Worcester. The Americas are Artists of the Week as well on the BBC Intro and they got a spin on the show of a popular BBC DJ Georgey Spanswick.
Proof is on Twitter:
Artists of the Week for BBC Intro 15.01.2018
And the best news of all is of curse update on In Music Festival. Six bands have been chosen to the live stage of the competition and West Midlands are proudly presented by The Assist and The Americas. The Assist are incredible, we have seen them last year and love them since. Like The Americas, they are This Feeling alumni and a kick ass band.
The Americas making to the finals for Northern Exposure competition to earn a spot at In Music Festival in Croatia.
It will be a hard fight in the live stage but we will keep our fingers crossed for The Americas! Yeah!
M/R
***Update: 27.03.2018***
We took a step back from the ever changing world of The Americas for two months to concentrate on other acts on Indieterria, while the band continued to leave their mark across the country like a hurricane in Arkansas. They played sold out show in London on February 21st at The Lexington with The Blinders (and Blinders described The Americas as the best act on entire tour!) and followed up with another full house gig at legendary Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham with The Cosmics on March 17th.
Here`s a video to live version of “Susanna” from The Lexington, if you missed the show:
If that wasn’t enough, The Americas returned to London to play at iconic Nambucca for Some Might Say zine on March 27th. Just a little trip here and there and everywhere. We told you those boys are keeping themselves occupied. They actually do more in a month than most bands we know – but this is how you recognize serious business. The band will play and tour and record and publish.
Poster for Some Might Say zine gig in London at legendary Nambucca on March 27th 2018
Tight schedule paid off. There was a bit of March Madness at local BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester last week. On March 24th The Americas were recommended for BBC 1, then on March 25th they have been put forward to BBC Big Weekend Festival in Swansea alongside with RISCAS and on March 26th “Something`s Gonna Happen” was in rotation and was again a song of the week on the station.
March Madness at BBC Hereford and Worcester – not like we are complaining.
The Americas were also interviewed and you can hear what they had to say here:
Are you catching your breath? Good. Cause over the Easter Weekend, the band will return to their home ground at the Marrs Bar to play a gig with Junior Weeb and Happy Bones as special guests on March 30th. If you are not hyperventilating and drooling at the same time at the bill, you ain`t local. We are absolutely loco for each of the acts here and believe us Woo-Town will come out in great numbers for the show. You can join us, we have got trains, and buses and there is nothing to prevent you from visiting. Tickets are still available:
Poster for home coming gig at Marrs Bar with Junior Weeb and Happy Bones on March 30th 2018
If you are not familiar with the special guests for the night, here are our interviews with Junior Weeb and Happy Bones respectively for your reading and listening pleasures.
The show will most likely sell out and we have secured our tickets weeks ago. We will try to post some images or videos from the night.
That`s all for us for for now.
Mal/Rita
****Update 31/03/2018****
Before we publish our review of the band`s home coming gig, we would like to update you on what The Americas has been up to. It`s been few days which in the world of Aaron, Harry and Alex is a lot.
The band has just been announced as one of the acts to play Wychwood Festival on The Big Top stage. The Americas will play alongside another WorcesterWave band – Soeur. Add this to the impressive list of achievements in barely 4 months this year.
Wychwood Festival page with the announcement for The Americas
Wychwood Festival 2018 poster
And we can finally see a video from The Americas` performance at The Pirate Studios in Manchester in January. Ugly is a regular song in the live performances, but so far has not been released as a single. It’s worth watching as this is a classic track for the band – driven, funky and with a wonderful melody line.
M/R
****Update 02/04/2018****
The Americas are perfectionists. They plan their acts in the smaller details, play like there is no tomorrow and hit the stage even if the world is falling around them. It could not be any different for their home coming gig in Worcester. The house was full, support acts (Junior Weeb and Happy Bones) delivered splendid sets and the crowd was waiting in anticipation.
Aaron Whittaker of The Americas
The band don’t play home that often anymore so it was time for a real celebration. Harry, Aaron and Alex came on stage wearing identical red suits, looking like British Invasion act out of the 70s. For the next hour they did not let anyone rest even for a second. Ugly, Rosanna, Hot Minute, Tenth of May and a new song Come On Down were delivered with passion and determination. Within two tracks, Harry let go of both his jacket and shirt and continued to play, dance and swing. Audience picked up pace and formed the biggest mosh pit Marrs Bar seen on an indie gig. There was crowd surfing, pogo dancing and dozens of people screaming the lyrics with their eyes closed.
Alexander Bradshaw of The Americas
Once the music ended, fans and friends alike stormed merch stand and even posters were taken off the walls and taken home as souvenirs.
We have been attending gigs at Marrs Bar (Worcester`s only independent venue and a home to all WorcesterWave bands) for over two years and not often we see this sort of adoration. No, truly there is no other word for how revered The Americas were on that night.
The band will soon play bigger venues and this could be end of a certain period in their careers.
Harry Payne of The Americas
Like Peace before them, The Americas will put Worcester on a music map…
No wait, let us rephrase that. The Americas have already put Woo-Town on map and other bands from the scene are looking up to them and following.
It makes us proud to call this cathedral town in West Midlands home.
Much power to you The Americas!
Some videos from the night:
And some images from the night:
Sound and fury – The Americas play Worcester on 30.03.2018
The band puts their all into live performances
All together now
Can we bring back British Invasion? The musical one we mean of the 60s and 70s.
Welcome to 2018! We would like to wish you a very happy and prosperous new year and we hope it will be better than the last one. This year is going to be a very important one for our Worcester Music Scene and of course Vanadian Avenue crew will be keeping our eyes and ears open for anything music related. Please add us on Facebook if you haven’t done so yet to stay in touch with the latest information!
We would like to kick off 2018 in style with the first interview of the year. Ladies and gents, we give you the excellent White Feather Collective!
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Believe it or not, there must be definitely something in the famous Malvern spring water. After the success of fellow Malvern rockers Nuns of the Tundra at the national Firestone Battle of Bands competition and incredible releases from Dead Dads Club (they are playing Marr’s Bar with HVMM this February), here comes The White Feather Collective, swinging rock and roll quartet that has a major chance to represent England at the famous SXSW Conference & Festivals in San Antonio. We sat down with WFC to discuss their new material, previous accomplishments and sneaking into Glastonbury Festival.
White Feather Collective are:
William Turner (vocals/guitar),
Christopher Reynolds (drums),
Josh Lambe (vocals),
Roo Macphee (bass/organ)
White Feather Collective – picture from the bands archive
White Feather Collective logo
You are immensely popular in West Midlands. But just in case somebody spent the last few years living under a rock. Who are The White Feather Collective?
White Feather Collective: We guess, the easiest way to describe us would be we are a four-piece rock band from Malvern. The boarder definition would be who we are is what we aim for. We want to change some part of this world through music to make creative escapism as popular as it was. We want a big scene of groovy people loving all day and night, not just to escape the current state of things but as a means to change it. It sounds daft like a hippy dream, but it is so much more. The world is run by liars you’ll never meet and we want some power shift where what we say it counts and we see the efforts of our strain. Music is just one way of getting us on the same page and talking about that.
BBC Hereford & Worcester put you forward to the panel that chooses the BBC Music Introducing South By South West (SXSW) showcase line-up. Potentially, you could play at the biggest music conference in the world in Austin, Texas. Previous alumni of the BBC stage include among others The Big Moon and Idles. The first were nominated for Mercury Prize, the other recorded album of the year. No pressure, right?
White Feather Collective: No pressure at all! The fact we’ve been nominated encourages us to continue on the path we’re on. We just have to dream bigger and continue to put more loving energy into everything we do. The overall goal is to share good music with people and keep on riding that high.
The band formed in 2014. One year later, you had about twenty recorded songs and one of them “Come On and Get Down” was used by French company WIKO Mobile in their international campaign. Can you tell us how did that collaboration come to be?
White Feather Collective: They found us on Bandcamp. It was an early demo EP we nearly didn’t put on. Looking back, it was a good job we did! The coolest part of that was the video they made to go with it and the fact it was blasting out in huge stadiums!
The White Feather Collective – photo by Duncan Graves
White Feather Collective scored some prestigious gigs: The Water Rats in Kings Cross and The Monarch in Camden. And they were sold out shows. You also regularly perform in Scotland. How does the audience across the country react to your music?
White Feather Collective: The audience seem to react very similarly everywhere we go. They are all very warm and welcoming and tell us they dig our sound. Of course, it all depends on what night you’re put on in these places, really. For example, a Wednesday night in central London can be a bit hit and miss whereas the same night in a country pub could turn crazy. It’s all about the vibes, man. But still we find it’s the best way to try out new tracks and see what people respond to. We see it as a work in progress and some songs get left for recordings and others are better to be performed live.
April 2016 saw you recording a session for BBC Introducing at the Phoenix Theatre in Ross-on-Wye. You were partnered with another group tipped for national success – nth cave. Do you have any recollections from that session?
White Feather Collective: Honestly not much (laughter)! We’d come from a gig up north the night before so we were all quite hung-over and tired. We do remember singing Roy Orbison with Andrew Marston quite a lot though and that felt nice!
In October 2016 you released your five track debut EP “Universal Harmony” and then followed by a stand-alone digital single “Doorman” in November of the same year. We tried to find one bad review of either and we simply couldn’t. Very unusual, but it seems nothing is ordinary about White Feather Collective.
White Feather Collective: No, you will not be able to find anything ordinary about us. We’re all very unusual! (laughing)
William Turner (vocals,guitar) – photo by Duncan Graves
This summer you spent mostly playing festivals (The Orchard Venue in Ledbury, West Fest, Mello Fest, Lakefest, Nozstock) with few performances in Wales (Cardiff, Monmouth) and one in Bristol (Mr Wolf`s). Is any new material coming or are you just taking things easy?
White Feather Collective: Yes, we were lucky enough to play some great festivals. Some down in Cornwall and Glastonbury which our singer, Josh actually had to sneak into (sorry Mr. Eavis!) He was there for about ten days and we had to pull him away. We don’t think he ever wanted to leave! And yes again, there’s always new material we’re working on. At the moment we are just getting funds together to get into the studio to record new songs.
The band started out as a quintet but recently you are down to four members. Can you tell us who departed the Collective?
White Feather Collective: We have always been a 4 piece band but we have percussionists, keys players and singers join us for certain things, that’s why we call it the collective. Our longest serving percussionist is a friend named Robby Rotten. He’s a real dude and often joins us when he’s not riding his motorbike through Africa!
The sound of White Feather Collective has been described as psychodelic surf rock with influences stretching from The Rolling Stones and Animals to Beach Boys, Donovan, Crazy World of Arthur Brown or even Captain Beefheart. How would you describe your own music and influences?
White Feather Collective: Yes, these are some pretty big names. We all have so many influences but we all love the iconic sounding records of the sixties and the people who make BIG songs that are still so popular like The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Velvet Underground.
You prefer to have a complete control of your art: writing, filming, recording, designing and producing all the aspects of your musical presence. That is a very unique approach in the era when bands employ entire armies of collaborators.
White Feather Collective: It’s a story of two halves, really. We’re poor but we’re also creative people and truly enjoy doing it (laughter). We would love the opportunity and want to collaborate with other artists but financially it’s not viable. Naturally, we all work in the creative industry, whether it’s recording music, film making or photography. This has helped us enormously.
You have substantial following online for an unsigned band. “Come On and Get Down” has been viewed over 80 K times on Youtube while “Crossroad Shootout” has over 34 K hits. Your songs on Reverberation have been listened by thousands of visitors. We are sure you already receive proposals from the labels. Ever thought of jumping ships and getting signed?
White Feather Collective: We’ve only received an offer once but unfortunately it wasn’t right for us at the time. It’s an incredibly important decision for a band and one that will set our direction for time to come. We’re very open to the idea and would love to sign if the right opportunity arose with the right label, but for now we’ll continue to do what we enjoy.
In the element – The White Feather Collective photographed by Duncan Graves
Any plans for the future, maybe except for the world domination?
White Feather Collective: Nah just continue making things, living the best we can and keep trying to meet Robert Plant! (laughing again)
On Saturday, January 6th, 2017 BBC Hereford & Worcester aired a short interview with The White Feather Collective and gave this very blog a shout out. You can here the 5 minute segment on the band and our interview right here:
Come on SXSW – you know you want a band from Worcester play at one of your events. Or two or seven bands from Worcester, we can ship you some incredible artists!
The time has come to run the final chapter of our series showcasing artists from our local music scene in Worcester (and neighboring regions) that will be all over the radars in 2018. We have saved some absolute gems and proper legends for this entry and we are hoping you will be enjoying this blog. Because we had an absolute ball preparing all the entries and profiles. It was also a lot of work, we will admit but we are absolutely in love with finding new music and bringing it to the audience. That`s what A&Rs are for and we are at your service if you ever need to find new artists to listen and fall in love with!
If you would like to familiarize yourself with previous entries, click on the links below:
And now dear readers, let us introduce you to a handful of kick-ass artists from our neck of country-side.
Grafton Ash
Grafton Ash
Grafton Ash are known for incredibly energetic performances
Starting off as a duo in 2014, Grafton Ash is currently a four-piece pop/rock group from Bromsgrove. Formed by childhood friends, Dan Roberts and Dan Blake, they were joined by Stephen Ashford and Sam Dimmick in early 2015. The band released their debut EP “Avalanche” in June 2015 and it quickly received very positive reviews from local radio stations. Their title track was named the Track of the Week twice by BBC Hereford and Worcester and Grafton Ash received an extensive airplay over the next 6 months. On 3rd of September 2016, they were officially included into BBC Introducing and recorded a three song session for DJ Andrew Marston alongside the Worcester/Bristol indie rock outfit, Vertigo.
Grafton Ash is touring nationally, frequently to the full-house shows in places such as at Birmingham O2 Institute, London O2 Academy, Islington and Covent Garden’s prestigious Hospital Club. They supported Flye, Tom Walker, Reef, The Feeling, The Fratellis, Racing Glaciers and recently James Blunt on 25th of November during his “Afterlove World Tour” at The Arena in Birmingham,.
Grafton Ash released their second EP entitled “Existing” in 2017 and they are currently in the middle of a promo tour that will last until the Spring 2018.
People behind the indie dance/pop trio, Silverlake are probably the most experienced musicians from the Worcester scene. After the breakup of their previous band, the septet Vivarama in 1998, Robin Dalleway (guitar and chief tunesmith), Tony Sherrard (aka Shez, bass) and lead singer Sally-Ann Parker (aka Miss Smartness) returned to their home town of Redditch to concentrate on a new material. Vivarama’s mix of dance rhythms with indie pop and rock sounds brought them a critical acclaim and led to several music videos being filmed for the band between 1993 and 1998. The most popular of them was “Updoor” filmed inside popular club The Flapper and Firkin in Birmingham. “Updoor” premiered on MTV Dance Night with VJ Simone Angel in 1996 and then entered regular rotation as part of Party Zone and 120 Minutes (hosted by Toby Ames). Vivarama was also supporting Lighthouse Family. The band was also awarded for their video to “Let`s Talk About Love” at Film and Television Festival in Birmingham in 1993.
Even before joining Vivarama, Robin Dalleway already had a successful music career. In 1977, he became a founding member of jazz-punk band The Cravats (they recorded 5 sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1) and in 1982, he formed postpunk quartet, The Very Things with whom he released 6 singles and 3 albums (they all entered Top 40 at UK Independent Chart). The band played two Peel sessions for Radio 1.
For many years, Silverlake recorded music without releasing it and kept their performances to minimum (appearing only a couple of times, for example at Worcester Music Festival in 2015). Their first song “Twist” still remains unreleased, but in 2010, they issued their debut album “Paradise Place” through Magnet Records. Their most current singles include “Black Ponytail”, “Drop By Drop” and “X (Marks The Spot)”. Silverlake received airplay on BBC Hereford and Worcester, BBC West Midlands and a mention at BBC Introducing.
The band is inspired by soul and funk music, the Coen Brothers and David Lynch movies, groovy Californian Pop, Miles Davis, Jackson Pollack, Roxy Music, and Chill Out/Lounge sounds.
Singer/songwriter Ewan Pollock (or as he is known locally “the boy with a guitar”) is the first person on our list that is not native to Worcestershire. He was born in Glasgow but moved to Worcester as a child and adopted The Faithful City as his hometown. He specializes in acoustic folk/rock genre and is inspired by the works of Glen Hansard, fellow Scotsman Paolo Nutini, Frank Turner and George Ezra.
Since 2013, Ewan has performed at many events around Worcester and beyond. In 2014 he reached finals of the nationwide singing competition”Open Mic UK” in Birmingham receiving positive reviews from judges and audience. He played at Worcester Music Festival three times (in 2014, 2015 and 2016), participated in Free Radio Summer Sessions at the Crown Gate Shopping Centre (where he was chosen the most promising artist) in 2015 and 2016, Worcester Moto Show (High Street stage), Festival at the Fountains (South Quay stage), Worcester Foodie Festival (as part of “Young and Talented” stage on the High Street), Christmas in Worcester (Worcester BID stage) and Severn Sounds Festival at Pavilion in the Park stage. He has also graced the stages of The Old Pheasant, Café Blis (supporting Worcester Soup charitable project), The Marr’s Bar, The Firefly (all in Worcester) and Sunflower Lounge in Birmingham.
Ewan released his first digital standalone single “Home comfort” in 2015 and a demo EP “Make it count” in 2016 (“Lady in the Dark”, Distractions”, “Make it count” and “Too late”). The leading single “Lady in the Dark” was played on BBC Hereford and Worcester radio and was featured on podcast show by popular online DJ Matt Barker in November 2016 (Matt is a presenter of the MattBarkerRadio and broadcasts on 60+ radio stations worldwide via the Deuce Radio Show).
Ewan is currently working on new music and has several concerts already booked for winter and spring 2018.
Elephant Peel live at Firefly in Worcester on October 19th 2017
Official bio: A bunch of free-thinking, rock n roll survivalists came together in Worcester and produced a plethora of gorgeous, chin-out songs. Honing their craft, fittingly, in an attic studio above a notorious watering-hole (overlooking their home town of Worcester), they’re great lads but they ain’t here to take nonsense off anyone! Reminiscent of The Kinks, 13th Floor Elevators and sharing elements of your other favourite classic bands. They write a hell of a tune and have a great stage presence to boot.
Formed in 2016, Elephant Peel is a brand new band on Worcestershire scene, but it is quickly making a name for itself. The quintet consists of experienced musicians: Joe Thomlinson (vocals and harmonica), lead guitarist Matthew Randall (aka Randall), drummer Guy Bradnock, bassist Sean Gandy and Matt Crawford (nicknamed Crawford) responsible for rhythm guitar/backing vocals. Before forming Elephant Peel, Joe played in two well known Worcester bands: Virals and Something Men that also featured Matt Crawford and Sean Gandy. Something Men released 4 stand alone digital singles “Mud Brown Mistress”, “Birdy Roof”, “Go Diddley” and “Last Night (Was The Last Time)” that received a lot of airplay on local and internet radio stations. “Birdy roof”/“Mud Brown Mistress” was also released in a physical copy as a double-sided 7’’ single through EZPZ Records in September 2011. It was chosen a Song of the Week by BBC Hereford and Worcester in November the same year.
After Something Men disbanded in early 2012, Joe started working with Matt and Sean again which led to the formation of Elephant Peel. They recently released a demo single “Universal Stream” and played a string of popular local gigs including headlining two sold out concerts at Heroes (organized by Surprise Attack) and The Firefly (part of Boneyard Sessions). The band is inspired by Syd Barrett, The Kinks, The Beatles, Richard Hell, Jennifer Gentle and Graham Coxon.
2018 will see Elephant Peel in the studio (they are now working on more material to be released in the first quarter) and on the road (concerts are already booked and will be announced soon).
Chloe Elliot performing at the Christmas Lights Switch On ceremony in Worcester, November 23rd, 2017
At 16 years old Stourport-on-Severn native, Chloë Elliot is considered a pop star in the making. She started singing as a child and further developed her singing and song writing abilities at performing arts school in Birmingham, where she received classical training in theatre, dance and stage presentation. Of course, she passed every exam with a distinction.
Chloë spends her free time from school either in the studio recording the songs she wrote or performing. In the last year and a half, she performed more than 60 times as a solo artist in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Greater Birmingham area receiving positive reviews. Her song “One” was selected as the “Song of the week” by BBC Hereford & Worcester which lead to her being interviewed on-air by popular DJ Tammy Gooding.
Her debut single entitled “3 Reasons” was released in early September 2017 and went into heavy rotation on BBC Hereford and Worcester Radio. It won her the recognitions for the “Song of the Day” and “Song of the week”. It was also named the post popular song among young listeners in November. Chloe was invited to BBC Introducing at Christmas Lights Switch on in Worcester by DJ Andrew Marston and her performance was seen by thousand of visitors on the High Street.
2018 may be a breakthrough year for the young artist. She has recently preformed for scouts from two biggest record labels in the world (Universal and Warner) and she is already booked for several shows in the early spring and summer.
Chloë is influenced by John Mayer, Shawn Mendes and James Bay.
Official bio: Winchester are a new British 3 piece that drags high octane prog, metal and hardcore screaming into the popular arena. Their emotional riff-laden assault course crashes and flows through cinematic soundscapes with no room for boundaries. Drawing from the intense social climate of today, Winchester have nurtured a sound and a concept that rings true with the twists and turns of tomorrow. With a live show that manages to re-create and somehow elevate their epic sound, this is something fresh that you will not want to miss. Life Begins.”
Worcester/Cardiff/Bristol based band Winchester are three piece outfit balancing between progressive rock and old school hardcore à la Biohazard, Pro-Pain or Crowbar with heavy metal inspired vocals instead of rap. The trio consists of producer-turned musician Scott Mahoney (responsible for excellent debuts of Nuns of the Tundra and HEXEN) on guitar, Adam Catalan on lead vocals and bass and Max Edkins on drums.
Winchester was founded in late 2015 and the band deliberately stayed quiet despite touring nationally and internationally (Germany, Belgium France in 2016). Lack of social media presence, stripped contact with the press and performing live resulted in a very raw yet appealing sound that was captured in the studio and perfected by legendary record producer Dan Weller (SikTh, Enter Shikari, Young Guns). Winchester spent more than a month preparing their full debut album entitled “Life begins at these dead ends” and it will premiere on 9th of February 2018. The album is available for pre-order now on all major platforms.
The first single from the album, “Life begins” was released 15th of December 2017 and received positive reviews from online rock magazines and from BBC Wales DJ Adam Walton. It will be followed by second single “Diamond” in late January 2018.
At this moment, Winchester is on promo tour in the UK. On 18th of November, they played popular club Hobos in Bridgend with As Lions and Greyhaven UK and on 29th of November they headlined sold out show in Bristol’s The Fleece with Holding Absence, Loathe and Phoxjaw. They will play Bristol again on 28th of February along with Loathe and there are talks of their gigs supporting Sever and Time & The Valuator later in the summer.
Winchester draws inspirations from the music of Muse, Biffy Clyro, Fightstar, Northlane, The Architects and Enter Shikari. They are represented by Imperial Music, an artist and event management company based in South Wales.
As Mamas performing live at the opening of Paradiddles in Worcester December 15th 2017
Founded over two years ago, Worcester-native psychedelic rock and roll duo, As Mamas consists of Harrison Baird-Whitman (guitar, vocals and harmonica) and Joe Devine (drums and percussion). Influenced by the Californian 60’s music, the group managed to create a very unique style, the-one-of-its-kind on the Worcester indie scene.
As Mamas released their debut self titled EP on 16th of July 2016. It was recorded in an original 60’s caravan (that was turned into a studio) and was produced, mixed and mastered by the band. It included four stand alone singles: “The Lights Are On but Everyone’s Wasted”, “World Wide Blues”, “Mama Moved” and “Zenobia”. Their single “The Lights Are On but Everyone’s Wasted” received a lot of airplay on Birmingham Radio, Free Radio, BBC Hereford and Worcester, 102 Touch FM (Shakespeare’s County & tThe Vale) and was featured on a compilation album “ENTER THE VOID” released by Donut Records in August 2017.
For the last year and a half, the duo has been touring the UK extensively. Along with The Americas, As Mamas are the only West Midlands acts that appeared on This Feeling circuit. As solo artists, they played Birmingham on several occasions including the Sunflower Lounge with The Whitelights (during their EP launch), Ten Tombs, supported The Cosmics alongside LCKD and Quinn (October) and appeared at Birmingham Blues Fest Saturday at the Big Bulls Head in Digbeth (July). They have also graced the stages in Worcester appearing at the Firefly club supporting Solsara alongside Happy Bones and in Heroes with Elephant Peel and Slumb Party (October and November respectively).
As Mamas regularly performs in London as well, usually to the clubs at full capacity. Their recent sold out shows include gig at Amersham Arms (alongside MONIKA, James Beau Barcley and Spinner) and Reverberation Psych Fest at Victoria Dalston with Strange Cages, Dusty Mush and Insomnichord.
Other notable shows include BBC Introducing Session at The Booth Hall with Raptor and New Revival (April 21st 2017), charitable concert at Alestones in Tardebigge Court in support of Anawim (women’s refugee organization) on October 28th and supporting popular Nederland group MY BABY on 7th of April.
Their latest video and a new single entitled “19th Floor” were released on September 11th and were directed by Caitlin Setterfield. “19th Floor” will be featured on their next EP “Parte Dois” to be released on 10th of March 2018. The band will play a show to celebrate the launch with a gig at the Sunflower Lounge. Tickets sale date and supports will be announced soon, so stay tuned.
Time of the Mouth perform at the opening of Paradiddles in Worcester on December 15th 2017
Time of the Mouth is Kidderminster based punk rock trio that has been around longer than any of the previous bands we have written about (with the exception of Silverlake). Over the years, the outfit gathered a strong fan base in West Midlands and beyond. It looks like 2018 could be a breakthrough year for them.
TOTM was formed at the beginning of 2010 and went through different line ups changes. Since 2015, the band consists of Chris Jones (vocals and lead/rhythm guitar), Ash Greenway (bass and backing vocals) and Jake Fox (drums and backing vocals). Their back catalogue can only be described as the most impressive. They released their first EP “Third Time lucky” in May 2012 (including singles “Amy”, “The Only Way Out”, “Tears” and “Take Me With You”). “The Only Way Out” proved to be so popular that it was played not only on local BBC Hereford and Worcester radio, but also in America, Australia and Japan. Their second EP “Snorkeling with Jesus” was published on May 2nd 2014. It was a 5 single EP containing “Lost”, “6 Feet Under”, “Snorkeling with Jesus”, “Euphoria” and “Another Level”. Again, two singles “Euphoria” and “Lost” received a lot of radio airplay on BBC Hereford and Worcester, Birmingham Radio and Touch FM. Their stand alone single “Urgent Joe” released in 2013 was named the single of the week by BBC Hereford and Worcester.
Their newest EP entitled “What Would Dave do” was released on August 11th 2017 and contains 4 singles: “Going Back”, “My Disguise”, “Too Obvious” and “ELG3”. A promotional video to “My Disguise” was filmed at Shredder Live Lounge Studios in Birmingham. A stand alone single “Miss The Madness” was also released on May 26th 2017. It is worth adding that its music video features a popular actress Eleanor Ham known from BBC series “The Doctors”, “The 4 O’Clock Club” and theater productions of “Les Miserables” and “Cinderella”.
TOMT is known from very energetic live show and frequently tours nationally. They have performed in London, Birmingham (at prestigious The O2 Academy Birmingham & the LG Arena Birmingham), Bristol (Louisiana), Nottingham, Sheffield, Cardiff, Worcester (The Marrs’ Bar, Paradiddles), and Manchester among many other places. They also perform at many summer festivals between May and October (including Tower Stage at Drunken Monkey Festival). The band is inspired by Less Than Jake!, Reel Big Fish, Green Day, Spunge, Fall Out Boy, The Used, Placebo and Bowling For Soup.
And it`s a wrap our dear readers. Three long chapters full of bands that will rock your socks off and make you dance in your kitchen in the coming 12 months are yours to enjoy. We will hopefully see you somewhere at a local gig, next to the speakers. If we meet – come and say hi and tell us if our predictions were correct
There will be more to come on Indieterria in 2018 but we we will be changing our format a bit to get more interesting. You will see 🙂
It’s December already and soon 2017 will be a history. Despite what the popular songs says, it was a very good year for Worcester and Worcestershire groups. After numerous articles in the press, sold out gigs, sessions for BBC Introducing, national radio plays and won competitions, we can be proud of our musical scene and its accomplishments.
If you are searching for brand new bands to look out for in 2018, to quote again another popular song, please don’t look any further. Your faithful A&R’s at Vanadian Avenue spent the entire last week composing a list of emerging groups that will keep you headbanging, pogo’ing and singing along for the next 12 months. Some bands are well established, some are just starting and some have their resume filled with important names, legendary venues and songs on the charts.
This guide has two parts already and we will be adding more in the future:
You can read the next chapters here:
Please keep your eyes open and you will be attending the best concerts without the need of travelling anywhere outside of Worcester! There is so much happening in our city, it’s really hard to keep track of every event out there.
To make it easier for you music lovers, please read our guide to the bands that will rock 2018. We salute them!
Navajo Ace
Navajo Ace
Navajo Ace acoustic
Official bio: Worcester band Navajo Ace formed in 2016 and are quickly garnering themselves a reputation as an interesting underground band that make music with power and soul. The band combines a broad spectrum of influences, breathing new life into a sound somewhere between the grittier end of 90s college alt rock, shoegaze and Emo before it became a dirty word.
Named after the DC Comics Native American superhero character, Johnny Cloud from 1960’s “All-American Men of War” (created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Irv Novick), Navajo Ace is an Americana/college rock four-piece based in Worcester. The band started playing together early in 2016 and their current line up consists of Adam Barnes (vocals and guitar), Thom Dewhurst (guitar and backing vocals), Christian Burton (bass) and Crag Sharpe (drums). On August 6th 2017, they released their 5 track EP “Five Turnings” (“Tiger in the Tank”, “Underneath Cars”, “Awkward Place”, “Five Turnings” and “Drop The Needle”). The EP has been recorded at a well known studio JT Soar in Nottingham, produced by Phil Booth & Navajo Ace and mastered by Jesse Cannon at Cannon Found Soundation (Limp Bizkit, Man Overboard, NOFX, The Misfits) in New York. In September, their song “Awkward Place” debuted on BBC Hereford and Worcester and the band received positive reviews from Andrew Marston of BBC Introducing and Louder Than War magazine.
Navajo Ace are constantly touring nationally (Nottingham, Lincoln, Bristol, Plymouth) and locally (sold out gigs at Heroes Bar with nth cave, Worcester Music Festival and acoustic set at Bottles in Worcester). They supported Moose Blood, Bivouac and legendary bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, Big Walnuts, Yonder, Porno for Pyros, The Stooges).The band is inspired by the music of Some Skeletons, Transmissions, 36 Strategies, Thousands of Reflections and Rosebud.
Formed in Worcester early in 2017, Novaview is the youngest group to join the WorcesterWave scene and one with a massive potential. The group consists of four band members: Luke Rhodes on guitar, Joanna Edwards on vocals, bass player Jack Godwin bass and drummer Tate Ellison. Inspired by My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins, this very young shoegaze/dreampop quarter is now working hard on their demo songs that will be released in 2018. We hope their new material will include a remastered version of “In Limbo”, a beautifully crafted and very catchy song they currently have on their Soundcloud account.
Novaview debuted in October at the Boneyard Sessions concert at The Firefly in Worcester and made a big impression on the audience and music promoters. It is worth mentioning that Joanna Edwards has an unique, almost ethereal voice that can only be compared to that of Hope Sandoval’s of American dreampop giants, Mazzy Star. Vanadian Avenue will be closely watching their progress as their prospects are big and bright like the starry skies in the middle of winter (the most luminous time of year if you wondered).
Official bio: Junior Weeb are an indie funk/alternative rock four-piece hailing from Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire. With hard-hitting bass grooves, soulful vocals and sticky guitar licks, Junior Weeb take their influences from a catalogue of different genres hoping to create a finished product that pleases your ears.
Hailing from the Worcestershire town of Droitwich Spa, former Victorian health resort and a well known beauty spot, Junior Weeb is an indie/alternative rock quartet with massive dose of energy. They easily pass it to their audience during their live performances causing serious cases of pogo, headbanging and singing along. The group consist of Chris Phee (rhythm guitar and lead vocals), Max Killing (bass guitar and backing vocals), Joe Webby (lead guitar and an obvious inspiration behind the name) and Quentin Hill (drums).
The band known affectionately as the Juniors (or alternatively as The Weebs) has been together for over a year and spent the majority of that time recording their demos and touring. They supported Muncie Girls, The Riscas, Ivory Wave, The Americas (at the O2 Academy in Birmingham) and Soeur at the sold out show at the Marr’s Bar in Worcester. They will return to Birmingham this Christmas to play alongside Mama Roux and The Icon.
On April 21th 2017, their debut single “No right” was chosen as the track of the week by this Feeling circuit and a month later, popular website GigSlutz gave the boys a glowing review describing their music as a “dreamy, psychedelic affair with just a hint of Oasis”. With recommendations such as this and a strong following, Junior Weeb is on the best way to make it to the charts in the next couple of years.
The Lightweights at The Marr’s Bar by Indri Richardson
Before joining forces with The Lightweights, Jodie Hughes was a well established singer/songwriter in her own right. At the age of 16, Worcester School of Rock and Performance alumna, Jodie became the youngest person ever to perform at Worcester Music Festival and at the Independent Music Week in her hometown to support Anteros and The Assist. The Lightweights are three-piece indie/punk rock band from Worcester consisting of Jodie Hughes on lead vocal and guitar, Alex Russell on bass and Euan Richardson on drums. Second guitarist, Fiona Berry occasionally joins their performances but doesn’t seem to be a permanent member of the band anymore.
The Lightweights had a very busy summer performing at the Live Experience Festival, Battle of the Bands at the Rugby Club, MappFest in Malvern, Bowfest in Bromsgrove and Worcester Carnival. Recently the band supported Jacklines at Birmingham O2 Institute, the RPM’s and Thousand Mountain at the Marrs Bar in Worcester and participated in the 10th edition of Worcester Music Festival. The band is currently in the studio working on their debut EP.
23 year old Jesse River Dylan Murray is the singer/songwriter based in Worcester. His strong voice, impressive range effortlessly changing from falsetto to bass and striking scenic image has been compared to David Bowie, Mark Bolan and Johnny Cash. Named after River Phoenix and the bard himself (Bob Dylan), Jesse is designed for fame. His debut EP “Classical Music” has been released in July 2017 to positive reviews. JRDM has been very busy this year touring and gigging in every corner of West Midlands and beyond (The Brecon Fringe Festival, Wales) , performing with numerous local acts such as Reuben Seabright, Ben Dallow, nth cave, Nuns of the Tundra (at the Marrs Bar), Boneyard Sessions and Doozer McDooze (for Worcester Music Festival). He is often performing at the Open Mic nights at the Chestnut Pub in Worcester. 2018 seems to be another busy year for him as Jesse is already booked for summer festivals such as Breathfest.
Ben and his Collective playing at Firefly in Worcester, picture by Malicia Dabrowicz
Reggae, ska and funk musician Ben Vickers is somewhat of a Worcester music scene legend. Performing since he was 11 years old (right after he received his first guitar), Droitwich resident Ben played, jammed and shared the stage with almost every local musician. He has worked at well established music shops in the city center (RGS Worcester and Cranes Music) and tutored countless amateur musicians helping them develop better guitar-playing skills. He was also in popular Worcester band, Hometown Tourists.
However, Ben is best known for playing acoustic solo sets that draws big crowds. He has played at The Marrs Bar, The Firefly, Heroes, The Chestnut, Bottles and many other local venues. He is also involved in running popular open mic nights and jam sessions. Ben performed at Youthcomm’s Minifest, Sunshine Music Festival in Upton, Worcester Music Festival, Worcester Show and was featured on BBC Introducing by Andrew Marston. In 2015, he released 4 song EP entitled “Keep it Real Funky” which received a lot of radio play at BBC Hereford and Worcester.
Ben’s newest musical endeavour is called The Collective. It is a five-piece outfit consisting of very experienced musicians. Except Ben Vickers (lead guitar and vocals), The Collective include Poppy Waterman-Smith (piano and vocals), Matthew Todd (bass guitar), Ryan Lerigo-Jones (drums) and Pat McArdle (percussion, melodica and samples). The Collective plays a mixture of ska, roots rock reggae rhythms with touches of jazz and soul. It is worth mentioning that Poppy’s powerful voice and scene presence gained the attention of Seal, who invited her to perform as an opening act for his concert in Manchester in July 2016. In November, the band released their first EP (recording of Davis Amps live session).
Malvern native, the 29 year old singer/songwriter, Ruben Seabright is the owner of one of the most recognizable and the most powerful voices in Worcester. Ruben comes from artistic and musical family and he has been performing along with his parents and siblings locally since a very young age. He has released his debut album entitled “Depths” in 2013 and has been performing extensively ever since. Ruben shared the stage with Soeur, Nuns of the Tundra, This Wicked Tongue, Ben Vickers, Vault of Eagles, Thousand Mountain and many more. Recently he has supported Nigel Clark (of Dodgy), Heck (formerly Baby Godzilla) and Kill the Romantic. He has been featured on BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester in 2016. Ruben is currently working on his new material to be released as an EP next year.
Ruben is hosting a number of open mic nights in Worcester and Malvern where he performs solo or in the company of his father, Paul “Toad” Seabright, member of successful Worcestershire groups Health Warning and Sons of Spock (winners of Three Counties Band of the Year award).
Please keep your eyes on the entire Seabright clan as the talent runs in the family! Ruben is married to fellow musician, Becky Rose Seabright and he is a brother-in-law to writer Katie Lowe, whose debut book “The Furies” has been purchased by Harper Collins for an international publication in 2018 (and they paid a 6 figure sum for it as well)!
Please come back soon as we are not finished yet!
The second part of our guide will be released next week (or even sooner as we are really dying to show you the rest of the bands).
It is nearly December and we cannot believe how quickly this year has gone! The past 11 months were super busy but many things were accomplished. Worcester music scene is growing stronger and stronger by the day and we thought it would be fun to prepare a short review.
We have taken 9 of the most popular musical acts from our faithful city, we looked through their official websites and posts on social media pages to find out what they have been up to and what they have achieved. The results? We can describe them only with one word – breathtaking. If somebody would told us that 2017 will be so productive and so kind to our local musicians, we would have never believed them.
Please read our report below and we hope you will feel as proud as we feel right now.
There is also another reason why we decided to do this review.
You have probably heard by now that BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester was asked to put forward one artist from our county to go to famous music business trade and conference SXSW in Austin, Texas next year.
There is a whole discussion on BBC H&W page, so we decided to make it easier for you and point out what leading artists from Worcestershire accomplished in recent times. Now its up to you dear readers to decide who may go to America in 2018. Read on and let your voice be heard.
You can see the entire discussion here:
HVMM
1. HVMM (hard rock/alternative)
– Signed to Independent Label Alliance (US based label)
– Released EP “Talk To Me Like I`m Dead”
– Release of debut EP followed by a sold out gig at Marrs Bar and a release party at Rise (Independent Record Store)
– Have been featured on BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester
– Their single “Lacerate” has been played nationally on BBC 6 Music (Steve Lamacq), Kerrang Radio (Alex Baker), Radio X (John Kennedy), Amazing Radio and multiple smaller radio stations in the UK and US.
– Band continues to record in Spain and London with legendary producer Martin “Youth” Glover
– Named as one of leading bands from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– Headlined a sold out show in London (Seabright Arms) as part of Hackney Wonderland
– Portal TeamRock.com named HVMM their “Band of the Week”, large features in Classic Rock, Gig Sluts and other large music portals online.
– Band tours nationally
– Released videos to “Lacerate”, “Going Postal” and “Beggars and Thieves”
– Unsigned act
– Released self titled EP
– Successful EP launch at Marr’s Bar in Worcester supporting Soeur (sold out)
– Recorded a session for BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester
– Their singles “Robot Love” and “Float away” were championed by Andrew Marston of BBC Hereford and Worcester. “Mind`s Eye” has been streamed over 000 on Spotify
– Band continues to record locally at Funky Bunker in Malvern with producer Scott Mahoney
– Named as one of leading acts from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– Strong touring presence locally (Bristol, Birmingham, Evesham) .Their performance at at BBC Introducing stage at Lakeview Festival at Eastnor Castle received very positive reviews (“they blew the tent poles off”)
– The band were featured in several articles in Malvern Gazette, Worcester News and Worcester Observer. Overblown Magazine called Nuns of the Tundra “the saviours of mainstream rock”
– The band is currently is in the finals of the third edition of the “Battle of the Bands” organized by Firestone. You can vote for them here: http://battleofthebands.firestone.eu/ – Released 4 singles : “Robot Love”, Mind’s eye”, “Float away” and “Dead in the desert”. Animated video to “Float away” made in co-operation with London based art company YESMAN was accepted into several international short film festivals including the prestigious NYC Indie Film Festival
– Unsigned collective and one of the largest in the country (currently 9 members)
– Released three independent albums “Dead city” (featuring Tina Maynard and Anya Pulver of Soeur on vocals), “WHYP7” and “Fiero”
– Their concert at Worcester Music Festival was named best live performance by the audience. They also supported ska legends The Toasters.
– Recorded a session for BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester
– Debuted on BBC 6 Music (Tom Robinson`s MixTape). Andrew Marston of BBC Hereford and Worcester described them as “Incredible live performers. Fun, energetic and have the crowd enjoying themselves as much as the band!” – The Collective is working on a project entitled “Lowlight” with possible theatrical release.
– Named as one of leading bands from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– The band is constantly touring locally (Bristol, Birmingham, string of local festivals such as Under The Hill Fest, Dubs In the Middle and Mello Festival).
– Described as one of the best bangers from the Midlands by Birmingham rapper Lady Sanity in Dummy Magazine – They supported Benji and Hibbz at sold out concert in Birmingham
– Released several videos to singles such as “I say”, “Blindspot” and “Swag” with thousands views on YouTube
– Unsigned act
– Released demo (“Tenth Day of May”), 2 digital singles (“Something`s Gonna Happen”, “Hot Minute”)
– Played to the full house at Worcester Music Festival, sell out every home coming gig
– They recently recorded session for BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester, they have featured on BBC Introducing West Midlands
– Their music received airplay from national radio stations such as Radio X (Gordon Smart), BBC Hereford and Worcester, Free Radio and many independent online radio stations
– The Americas just finished recording their debut EP
– Named as one of leading bands from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– They are the only band from Worcestershire on the famous This Feeling circuit. Headlined sold out show at The Finsbury in London. The Americas supported The Twang (sold out show at O2 Academy Birmingham), Broken Witt Rebels, Bluetones, Blaenavon and Trampolene
– They played some of the most important festivals in the country: Beyond The Tracks, Reading, Y Not, Tramlines, Isle of Wright
– Online magazine Gigslutz awarded them the title of the Best Newcomers and described them as “Infectious, frenetic, cool. One to watch”. Their concert was named “the week’s best gig” by the New Musical Express. The Line of Best Fit championed them by saying they “revitalize rock`n`roll”. The Americas received positive reviews from Mikey Johnns of This Feeling, Hall or Nothing music promoter Caffy St. Luce
– Band tours nationally. They performed at the BBC Amplify conference in London
– The Americas released video to single “Hot Minute”
– Unsigned but tipped as the most promising band from Worcester
– Double A single demo released (Bass/Pop Party Princess)
– The band played to a full house for Worcester Music Festival, Worcester Pride and took part in Musicians Against Homelessness charity fundraiser
– Recorded session for BBC Introducing BBC Hereford & Worcester
– Debuted by Steve Lamacq on BBC 6 Music with a rave review (“band to watch out for”)
– The band prepares to enter the studio in January
– Named as one of leading bands from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– nth cave begin to gain ground outside the county with concerts in Birmingham (02 Academy 2) and Liverpool (Club Babe).
– SLAP Magazine described them as “young, fearless and immensely talented”. They have been heavily championed by BBC Hereford and Worcester
– Members of the band are known for broad interests in music and broadcasting. Fergus (guitar) has been awarded BBC apprenticeship, while Hector (drums) and Alfie (bass) participate in Boneyard Promotions, organizing concerts and open mic nights in Worcester and Hereford.
– nth cave released video for their single “Bass”
6. The Humdrum Express /Ian Passey (singer/songwriter)
– Unsigned and self releasing artist
– Ian has a long career which spans over thirteen releases (album and EPs), the newest being a stand-alone single “E-Petition” released in November 2017
– The Humdrum Express has recently taken part in Musicians Against Homelessness charity fundraiser in Worcester, curated folk stage at Worcester Music Festival and played a sold out show at the Ross Theatre in Kiddeminster.
– During his career Ian has been featured numerous times on BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester and BBC West Midlands
– His six last singles have been in regular rotation on BBC 6 Music and other national stations. In total over 30 different shows across a variety of stations.
– Ian is currently preparing to record his new album
– “E-Petition” single went viral in October 2017, with articles about the zombie themed video appearing across local media – Stourbridge News, Dudley News, Kidderminster Shuttle and local radio stations (Severnvalley Radio)
– The Humdrum Express shared stages with many great artists such as performance poet John Cooper Clarke, Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü), Ian McCulloch (Echo & the Bunnymen), The Wombats, Half Man Half Biscuit, The Wedding Present, Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers), Miles Hunt (The Wonder Stuff), Mark Morriss (The Bluetones), The Membranes
– The Kidderminster Shuttle describe Ian Passey as an artist “known for his fast-paced lyrical style who mixes social commentary with familiar cultural references, surreal characters and subtle puns”
– The Humdrum Express has a series of videos under his belt. The latest – is “E-Petition”
– Unsigned band (but for how long?)
– Released debut EP “What separates us” and singles “No Fire”, “Left Living” and the title track “What separates us”
– Soeur shows usually sells out quickly as it happened in Worcester, Birmingham, Bristol, Bath, Leeds and Sheffield
– They have been featured on BBC Introducing twice: BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester and BBC Introducing In the West. Their single “No fire” was championed by Andrew Marston and Huw Stephens
– Received impressive amount of airplay on local and national radio stations: BBC Hereford and Worcester, BBC Radio Bristol, Free Radio Birmingham, Radio X, BBC Radio 1 (Rock Show with Daniel P Carter), BBC6 Music and many more
– They recorded their debut session at the legendary BBC Maida Vale studios in London in September. It was broadcasted live on Radio 1 along with the band’s interview
– Named as one of leading bands from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– Soeur played at Reading Festival, Leeds Festival and headlined two sold out shows in London – Named as “one of the best unsigned acts” by Radio 1, “unforgettable” by BBC Introducing and “kick-ass attitude, catchy tunes and filthy riffs” by popular online magazine Tab the Feed
– Their single “No fire” was added to official Spotify playlist called “Rocked – the best new rock songs from the UK”
– Released videos to “Pass out”, “No fire” and “Left Living”
– Unsigned band
– Released self titled demo and currently are working on their first EP
– Thousand Mountain performed at Worcester Music Festival, The Sunflower Lounge and The Flapper in Birmingham and headlined Musicians Against Homelessness concert at Marr’s Bar in Worcester in support of Crisis
– They supported American spoken word legends The Listener, Press to Meco, Rubio and Sleepmakeswaves among others
– Have been featured on BBC Introducing Hereford and Worcester
– Their single “Falling” was played on Birmingham Radio, BBC Hereford and Worcester and received national airplay on BBC 6 Music Recommends with Steve Lamacq
– “Falling” was also available to listen online nationally on BBC iPlayer for the period of 2 months
– Named as one of leading bands from Worcestershire (“WorcesterWave”) by Worcester News
– The band was featured in several others articles form Worcester News, Worcester Observer and Slap Magazine
– They were interviewed by national Free Radio during prime time broadcast slot (driving home news)
– Thousand Mountain are working with the biggest concert promoters in Worcestershire and Birmingham and constantly touring
– Live videos to “Kraken”, “Open Doors” and “Falling” are available on their Youtube channel
9. Lost Tiger to the Wild (indie/alternative rock)
– Unsigned duo but under the care of prestigious Coalition Talent agency
– Released debut single in November 2017
– Duo played a string of successful home town gigs at Marrs Bar, to full house
– Recorded a session for BBC Introducing Hereford & Worcester
– Band has been championed by Andrew Marston of BBC Hereford & Worcester
– Lost Tiger are currently recording
– They supported Tinie Tempah at the Coventry University Summer Ball and X Factor finalists, Jack and Joel. Only weeks after at the Teesside University Ball, Lost Tiger opened for Wheatus, Karen Harding, Fuse ODG and Pendulum
– Headlined the Birmingham Christmas Market for Free Radio
– The band enjoys a phenomenal social media presence – having over 11.000 followers on Instagram
– Released videos to their debut single “Come Out With Me”
Keep your fingers crossed for your favourite artists and let The BBC Introducing Herefor and Worcester know who would you like to see on the other side of The Pond!
See you soon,
Rita and Malicia D.
**** Update 16/12/2017****
The waiting and anticipation is over. BBC Hereford and Worcestershire had made their decision to put forward one local act before the broadcaster`s panel that decides who will play at BBC Stage at SXSW – the world`s biggest music business trade show.
And that local band is White Feather Collective.
We have decided to add the band to the best of 2017 as they are very accomplished artists and we will soon interview them as part of our Indieterria project. White Feather Collective were very surprised to learn that BBC H&W considered them for an overseas trip. This is what they have to say:
Each year BBC Introducing takes a handful of British artists to SXSW in Austin, Texas. Each act is performing live as part of BBC Stage. Previous year included artists such The Big Moon, Idles and Shame – you can say the champions league of indie circuit. Idles debut album “Brutalism” is a record of the year, Shame are recognized as one of the most influential new bands in the country, while The Big Moon were nominated to Mercury Prize.
Only the best among indie artists are taken to America and The White Feather Collective face a tough competition from other entitled acts from all across the country. But don’t think they don’t stand a chance. Because they do! We compiled a short note of what they have accomplished and it is a safe bet to say they are making a mark on Worcester music scene. Please send kudos and keep your fingers crossed for yet another alumni of WorcesterWave (yes, this is a real name for our scene. Thank you Andrew Marston!)
White Feather Collective
The White Feather Collective (psychodelia/surf-rock/folk)
– Not yet signed
– Released five track debut EP “Universal Harmony” and a stand-alone digital single “Doorman”
– Their song “Come On and Get Down” was used by French company WIKO Mobile in their international campaign on TV and radio
– Have been featured on BBC Introducing and were put forward to the panel that chooses the BBC Music Introducing South By South West (SXSW) showcase line-up.
– The band played at The Orchard Venue in Ledbury, West Fest, Mello Fest, Lakefest, Nozstock to universal acclaim
– Headlined sold out shows in their home town of Malvern, London (The Water Rats in Kings Cross and The Monarch in Camden), Bristol (Mr Wolf’s) and in Scotland
– Their YouTube channel received more than 200,000 individual views, with “Come On and Get Down” being viewed more than 80,000 times and “Crossroad Shootout” more than 34,000 times separately
– The band’s vocalist and guitar player, Will Turner wrote music for Grand Designs, The One Show, BBC News and Santander Bank
– Band tours nationally
– Released videos to “Come On and Get Down”, “Crossroad Shootout”, “The Inside” and “You Got The Time”
White Feather Collective – the future is looking bright
