The honour of being the first band to be featured goes to The Little Hydes, a pop quartet from Liverpool. Now, to say they were the inspiration behind this blog is to probably overstate things a little. However, it was whilst I was at the Mathew Street festival (Liverpool, August 2008) that I started thinking that I should have a go at this Blog stuff, with music being the obvious field to delve into. The Little Hydes were one of the bands I first checked out on myspace, having seen them on the Streetwaves stage stage during the aforementioned festival.
Initially I was impressed by their stage presence. There was a definite swagger and air of confidence about them, which surprised me even more when I found out they were all aged 16-18! Screaming fans and a short, but intensely guitar driven set of five songs later, I remember feeling proud of the fact that my home area is capable of producing such quality and decided to find out some more.
Having pestered them a little, the lads were kind enough to answer a few questions for me the other day. Here's what Mick Campbell (guitars/vox), who acted as spokesperson, had to say:
So, who are The Little Hydes?
Well, they are Mick Campbell & David King on Guitars & Vocals, Stephen Gillon on Bass Guitar & Backing Vocals and Tony McPartland on Drums & Backing Vocals and their list of influences is as long as my arm, ranging from The Beatles, through to Bob Marley, The Jam and then onto Editors and The Arctic Monkeys. They currently have no releases, but you can (and should) listen to 5 of their tracks on their myspace.
NME-E: Who are you and how did you come about?
TLH: We've been together for a year now, we're all aged 16-18 and just met through school and mates, just initially started as a hobby but we've been taking it really seriously lately and it seems to be paying off.
Judging by what I saw in Liverpool, this is certainly true. The boys received a riotous reception as they took the stage. I felt SO old when I found out their age!
NME-E: What are your releases to date?
TLH: We've never really had enough money to finance releasing a single but we've recorded a few times. One at Whitby Studios in Ellesmere port last April where we recorded 5 tracks (Summer's Over, Lions Mane, As Back When, KMC and Build) then we won a competition and recorded 2 tracks at Elavator Studios (Little Ideas and The Docker's Son) which is our first properly published work, available on a Streetwaves compilation CD. The last demo we recorded was at Crosstown studios, which is the place where we practise. We did two tracks (Firedancing and Give Me Some Time) which we didn't really intend to put up on the space, but as we've taken some time off gigging we put them up in the end
And thank God they did. 'Firedancing' really surprised me - this band is really maturing fast in their range of style.
NME-E: If you could choose a band to support you, who would it be?
TLH:Hmm thats a hard one because we're only up and coming ourselves. I'd love to play as a support band for either the Manic Street Preachers or Starsailor though.
NME-E: What was your favourite album of 2008?
TLH: My favourite album of 2008 was 'Arm In Arm' by Amsterdam by an absolute mile. A local band I've been following for years because my dad was a fan of the frontman's last band, Pele. Loved the new album and think it's by far his best work to date!
An excellent choice and one that shows a sound knowledge of music. 'Arm In Arm' is also one of my top 10 albums of 2008, it's hard to believe Amsterdam aren't making more of a name for themselves. Everyone should listen to them!
NME-E: What are your objectives and prospects for 2009?
TLH:I suppose taking the next step and really pushing to get signed, although it's really not that easy at all. If we can't do that I'd like to record a promo album to send around all the big labels!
Every up and coming band's dream and why shouldn't they follow it up? The talent is certainly there.
Another "Four Lads Who'll Shake The World"? Keep your eyes on this lot, I definitely will.
My sincerest thanks to Mick, David, Stephen and Tony and best wishes for the future. If you haven't done so already, please visit their myspace page and give them some well earned support. All the best, lads.
1 comments:
Fantastic band :)
Post a Comment