The Boy Is Back In Town

NME-Europe is back online - with a vengeance. Rumours of a split have been wide of the mark (bit difficult when you're flying solo!), merely a combination of factors have made it difficult to get anywhere lately. Until now!

So, how to sum up the water that has passed under the musical bridge during the last 3 months? Well, there's been a bit of everything; romance, tragedy and disaster; the Benicassim hurricance, Placebo's runner at MTV Murcia Night (don't get me started on that one), Jacko's departure or the imminent Oasis split have been counterbalanced by a host of new releases (Passion Pit or The Temper Trap spring to mind) and some interesting developments in the world of Myspace.

Two bands in partiular are worthy of mention: Overspill Poets have announced the release of their debut album, Thompson Falls in October and my sneak preview confirms it's WELL worth a listen. With a full-scale review to come, here's what guitarist George Kitching has to say about the band's music and their impending debut:


"We’ve always loved the sense of landscape you get from in a lot of American music, be it the alt country twang of Lucinda Williams, the southern jangle of early REM or the urban wastelands of Husker Du. Living in Cumbria that wide open sound seems to resonate, but the vocals always tie it back to the US. On the other hand we’ve grown up with music that’s firmly rooted on this side of the Atlantic from The Beatles to Richard Thompson to The Jam, The Smiths, The Happy Mondays to Elbow. I guess what we’ve been trying to do in our humble way is combine some of that big open guitar sound with vocals and lyrics that reflect our own surroundings and experience.

People have remarked that the songs make good “driving music” and we were conscious of trying to make the album flow like the soundtrack to a road movie albeit one set on the A1 heading north rather than a sun-baked interstate. 'Boxing Gloves' and '(The) Neon Lights (Are Beautiful)' - which, along with 'Northern Star', is one of my favourite tracks - tell stories of people heading for London to escape provincial dead ends, but the neon lights that inspired the latter song were actually those of Newcastle viewed from across the Tyne in Gateshead. The exception is the title track, 'Thompson Falls' that was inspired by a chance visit to the Idaho town of the same name and tells the tale of girl who despite her big ambitions fails to escape her small town trappings becoming weighed down with other people’s expectations.

The album is a total DIY affair, recorded in a home studio and released on our own label. What we lacked in technical sophistication was offset by the ability to go back and redo things over and over until we got them sounding how we wanted, so certainly it’s gratifying then to get the amount of positive feedback we’ve had so far about the production. It’s an exciting time for music. The internet has opened up a lot of possibilities for musicians that simply weren’t there before. Hopefully it’ll lead to more music driven purely by artistic vision rather than by an accountant's eye on the balance sheet."

This is a band I find I have a lot in common with and I sincerely hope their debut is as successful as they deserve.

Likewise - bit of an exclusive here - Scarborough's finest, Loveday Fools are about to make the break into the big time. Band member Ben gives us the gossip:



"We have signed a 2 year deal with King Prawn Records, an indie label from Halifax after they heard our demo cd. They plan on releasing our debut single/album worldwide in January 2010. The record will be entitled 'Ten O'Clock Horses' and will feature brand new versions of our popular myspace demo's, live favourites and maybe an odd new song. We're hoping to release a double A-Side single, we haven't sorted it out yet but that's the plan.

We're going on a mini-tour of Yorkshire this month, so we also hope to release a limited edition Live Album from one leg of the tour, maybe just a 100 run, something which may pass into myth and legend one day. If that happens we'll notify you of course."

Meanwhile check out the video of their track 'The Year I Started Smoking'.



Naturally, NME-E wishes them both the best of luck.

It'll be a busy couple of weeks concert-wise too in nme-land. This weekend sees Murcia host the 14th Lemon Pop festival as part of its local Fair. The main attractions are national bands Astrud (Fri) and Cooper (Sat), who will be promoting his latest release, Aeropuerto. International interest comes in the form of cult Scottish band BMX Bandits and Sweden' s Joel Alme (both Sat). Zodiacs might also be ones to watch.

Entrance is free both nights. I seriously recommend a visit if you're in the vicintiy, even if you don't know much about the bands - the organisers have an uncanny knack of unearthing future stars with the likes of Rinôçérôse, Los Planetas or Camera Obscura having played here before going onto greater things.

Speaking of whom, French electro-poppers, Rinôcérôse will feature in the B-side festival (Molina, Sat 12th) alongside The Rakes (see photo), top Spanish indie boys Vetusta Morla (see video clip) and fellow Madrileños electro-punkers Cycle. Watch out for local boys The Leadings as well - their brand of indie-electro-danceis sure to attract attention. Tickets are priced at just €15 (€20 if you pay on the door).



Plenty to be getting on with then!

It's good to be back!