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!

Weekly Round Up (18 May 2009)

Here's the latest batch of music news....

Top Stories

The online music site, Spotify, is planning to launch a mobile version and launch in the US.

Founder Daniel Ek spoke about what he thought the future lay in store for the product: "Portability is an important aspect, [as is] interoperability with other devices."

"That's definitely something we think is a premium product that people are willing to pay for - being able to bring the music with you or being able to have it working on your stereo."

A £9.99 subscription is currently available in the UK which blocks adverts. The US market could well see something by the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.

Meanwhile, the debate as to how to deal with illegal (or should that be alegal?) downloading on music continues. The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has spoken of its disapproval over a plan proposed by an alliance of creative industries in the UK to disconnect music file sharers' internet connections.

The alliance of the creative industries have called on the Government to "cut-off" repeat offenders to reduce the distribution of copyrighted material, but the response from the ISPA was that the idea was "disproportionate":

"ISPs and consumer groups consider disconnection of users to be a disproportionate response, a view that was recently supported by the european parliament."

In an attempt to offer some sort of compromise to the situation, Barbara Follet MP, minister for the creative industries, told industry executives that they were looking at a system of penalties and threats of legal action.

We'll see how this develops.

Myspace Magic

A couple of bands have added new material to their profiles over the past week. Scarborough's finest, Loveday Fools, have uploaded two new tracks - 'Terry O'Neill' and 'Come On Mate'. The former is a wistful ballad, while 'Come On Mate' is a down to earth little ditty which could be about any of our mates. This band is certainly versatile, so I seriously recommend a listen.

Liverpool's The Jacs have also added two new demos to their myspace page. This band will be featured in an nme-europe Myspace Magic article in the near future, but for now, all 60s music lovers should head straight for their page.

If you're looking for something along the lines of Editors-cum-Placebo-cum-The Cinematics you shouldn't bypass The Scholars. This Midland band, already featured on nme-e have added a couple of new tunes to their myspace profile. 'Turbulence' is my particular favourite - this band is really churning out some quality tunes and are surely one to watch.

Finally, another Midland band, Subkicks, released their debut album last week. A full feature will appear here this week, but for now have a look at their profile and sample some of their sounds.

Reviews
This week's main release is 'Journal For Plague Lovers' by the Manic Street Preachers, which has already caused a stir in with its cover. Indeed, supermarkets are refusing to display their new album cover, only stocking it in a blank slipcase because they fear that the cover image will offend.


Nicola Williamson, Sainsbury's music buyer, said: "We felt that some customers might consider this particular album cover to be inappropriate if it were prominently displayed on the shelf. As such, the album will be sold in a sleeve provided by the publisher."

However, James Dean Bradfield had other thoughts. "You can have lovely shiny buttocks and guns everywhere in the supermarket on covers of magazines and CDs," he said, "but you show a piece of art and people just freak out."

He's kind of got a point...

And finally....
Antonio Vega, 51, R.I.P.

Now, most of you will be wondering, 'who?' but Antonio Vega should go down as one of the great pop-writers in the Spanish music world. Nor he nor his band ever made the giddy heights they might have (and probably would have if they had been from the UK or the US) deserved, but Vega's lyrical and musical ability is unquestionable. His most popular song, 'La Chica De Ayer' was, in fact, covered by the Gigolo Aunts and is possibly the best way to remember him.

Myspace Magic: Loveday Fools

The latest in the NME-E Myspace Magic section takes us across the Pennines and almost North of the border! Scarborough is the hometown of Loveday Fools, a (soon to be) quartet who really caught my attention just recently. A friend request followed by a listen to the track 'The Morning' on their Myspace profile soon had me wondering what this bunch were all about. A quick-fire interview later, I found out a good deal more. Here's what they had to say:

NME-E: Who are you and how did you come about?
LF: We’re still in the process of nailing it all down but currently we, Loveday Fools, consist of Me (Ben Chapman – Vocals, Guitars, Synthesizer and Organ), Michael Blake (Guitars, Backing Vocals and Percussion) and Daniel Bird (Drums). We’re auditioning a bassist next week, one of Birdy's mates, he won't say who. I write a lot of songs and Micky writes tons too, we’re never short of stuff to do. Me and Blake met at school 20 years ago when he moved to Scarborough, we’re both Wonka heads and Beatle heads – that and our love of snooker kept us together through childhood and we met Birdy at secondary school in 1993. I didn’t see Birdy for a while after school until I went to a party round his flat a few years back and met my eventual Mrs there, so I’ve got him to thank for that. We’ve all played round Scarborough in various bands and solo guises down the years but it’s only in the last couple of months that we’ve got playing together.

NME-E: What's the reason for the name?
LF: I work in a call centre, doing the devil's work selling double fucking glazing, right, and a couple of months ago I heard my mate Syd on the phone to this old dear, posh nob, Mrs. Loveday-Foulds. When he said it I misheard him and went ‘Loveday Fools, I’m having that brother’. Googled it, nowt came up so it stuck. It’s a ball-ache trying to think of a band name that everyone likes and that doesn’t exist already anyway so when it lands in your lap like that it's good. You can stop racking your brains, trawling through newspapers, looking at graffiti, doing anagrams of stuff to find a name and just get back to putting your energy into playing or writing or whatever.

Job done, then!

NME-E: Do you dare describe your sound?
LF: I’m very particular about lyrics and I won’t let a song go on the tape until every single line is how I want it to be. I never just say ‘That’ll do’. If it takes 4 years (and trust me, it has) so be it. Musically I want strong melodies, every note has to be there for a reason and I like hidden depths to a song, where new stuff jumps out from the darkest corners with every listen. I never like mentioning bands you like or listen to 'cos people will just listen to you and pick out what you’ve nicked :).

I’m happy if we can satisfy my Scouse-pop and Shoegazer tendencies in one song. Blake’s into more jaunty songs than me, it's a good balance and he gets a lot of good ideas from playing the Mandolin. It sounds top when he translates it onto electric guitar. He’s great at writing about real life too, I think that’s something we both look for both in our music and the music we listen too – normality, reality, everyday things our mates can listen to and get like making your bed, knobheads on the estate or eating your tea. On the MySpace we’ve got it as ‘Backwards sounds, words and soul, mixed in a bowl of Rattle and Roll’ and that’s the manifesto, our campaign promise.

I must admit, when I heard 'The Morning', I instantly thought of a Scouse-pop band. It was a pleasant thought. See what you think.
 
NME-E: What are your releases to date?
LF: So far we’re in the middle of recording our demo album at our Scabbey Road home studio. It's a spare room in my house that I’ve lovingly converted. We’ve got umpteen guitars up there, a few amps, a mountain of old keyboards, a Hammond Organ, a big box of effects pedals, loads of old mics, flipping cables all over the place, we love it man. The album's called ‘Ten O’Clock Horses’, it’ll be done in a couple of months. We’ve got a few songs on MySpace for the minute, had some positive label and radio interest but thus far you’ll have to sit tight till its finished.

Seat belts fastened!

NME-E: What band/artist would you like to support you?
LF: I’d want someone who’s completely different to how we sound, so I’d say Doudou Cissoko. He’s a Kora player from Senegal. A Kora is like a giant pumpkin with 200 strings and how the man plays it I have no idea, he belittles me man, soul music. Blake would say The View, who he’s obsessed with and would runaway and join tomorrow if they’d let him :).

NME-E: What's your favourite record at the minute?
LF: I never buy new music really, but one that I have bought recently by a new band and loved is ‘Oracular Spectacular’ by MGMT. There’s an old 12” called ‘The Beatles, Bach and Bacharach go Bossa’ that I always throw on. It’s like 1970’s, Bossa Nova, instrumental lift music interpretations of 'Fool on the Hill' etc, I just love it.

Again Blake would obviously plump for The View’s new record ‘Which Bitch?’

NME-E: Finally, what are your objectives for the next 12 months?
LF: First off, let’s get the demo finished cos its getting on me nerves having it in me head and not on tape. Next, we can’t wait to get out on the live scene (if Scarborough gets one of them) and get a rep. Like I said, we’ve had some positive feedback from one or two labels and what not, so signing a deal and putting some singles out is in our sights. I don’t want to be all over Radio 1 or owt, winning Brit Awards is not something I’m interested in, but having people hear us on the Radio and going "Loveday Fools, good tune" – that’ll do. That, is what it's all about. If we can get on Wogan, and he's buzzing off us, my work here is done.

Well, I'm not Wogan and the BBC is my Beer Bottle Collection, but I am going "Loveday Fools, good tune". I think fellow readers and music lovers might too, so Ben and crew have given me permission to put a song on here. Check it out and see what you think:

Hope you liked it! My thanks to Ben for answering the questions and to Loveday Fools for giving me permission to play their track on here. If you like the song, check out the rest on their myspace profile. The others are at least as good, I promise.

Last 5 NME-E Interviews:
The Scholars (Midlands, UK)
Meeting Of Important People (Pittsburgh, USA)
Overspill Poets (NW, UK)
Fare Evaders (Liverpool, UK)
Its A Buffalo (Manchester, UK)

Read all NME-E interviews