Special Feature: The Little Hydes Back In The Studio

Those of you who read NME-Europe on a regular basis will know that the page's main aim is to promote up-and-coming bands. The regular section, Myspace Magic, was one of the main reasons for the birth of NME-E and the first band to enter its wall of fame was The Little Hydes, who had first caught my eye during the 2008 Mathew Street Festival.

Since then, the Hydes have been hard at work fine-tuning their sound and this weekend went into the studios to record three new tracks. NME-E are pleased to be able to preview those tracks here (you can also hear them on their myspace).

So what are you in for then? Well, 3 wonderful tracks basically. When I first saw TLH at the Mathew Street Festival I was taken aback by such a confident onstage presence from this Scouse foursome. Since then, their music has evolved more than favourably and the sound shows a maturity beyond their years. This triple helping sees them offer us two rather 'deep' tracks, 'As Back When' and 'Dear Diary Days', which grow on you every time you hear them, while 'Absolute Youth' is a delightful pop track, with wonderful guitar arrangements and powerful harmonies.

Anyway, enough of my tittle-tattle. Check it out for yourselves

Not bad, eh? Here's what the lads have to make of it....

"Well, 'Dear Diary Days' is a really personal song that we had to be very subtle about. 'As Back When' is another one with a quite serious tone so we wanted to experiment with other intruments to catch the ear. 'Absolute Youth' is really quite an angry song, but it's still more in the vain of our older, poppier stuff, the "single" if you like..."

"Our sound has changed a bit this year but we all feel it's much for the better, we learnt a lot last year and had a great time touring and picking stuff up along the way. We have a bit of experience and now we feel confident in what we can do."

While I was on, I also asked the boys whether there were any releases on the horizon and what they had planned for the immediate future. Mick explained:

"There's nothing for release in the near future although we do want to record a single next.
We'll be giving out free copies of the demo (Dear Diary Days, As Back When & Absolute Youth) at our gigs (you can check out their schedule on the calendar).

For now we're just gonna have fun pushing these recordings as far as they can go. We've worked really hard this year to tighten up our sound and prove to people that we're not just a throwaway pop band and that we've got something to say. We've got a taste for it now anyway so we'll be around and with a lot more new material to come!"

Naturally, NME-E will only be too pleased to keep you posted.

What know more about The Little Hydes? Read their original Myspace Magic interview here.

Myspace Magic: The Trestles

This week's featured Myspace Magic band takes us once more to the heart of the music world. I first came across Liverpool's The Trestles almost a year ago when I saw them supporting Amsterdam at The Cavern (I think it was bass-player Tom's first gig). Suitably impressed by their set and, coinciding with their first official release, an E.P. called 'Hard Faced Town', NME-E set about finding out a little more about the band, who were kind enough to answer my questions recently. Here's what they had to say:

NME-E: Who are you and how did you come about?
Tres: We are The Trestles, named after a lyric from Bruce Springsteen's 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' and the author of a Socialist bible. Remember how music used to make you feel? That's why we're here...

An interesting way to come up with a name! And they have a very clear idea of what they are about.

NME-E: What are your releases to date?
Tres: 'Hard Faced Town', a four track EP, is imminent.

In fact, it is now available and once I've downloaded it there'll be a formal review. You can preview the tracks on their myspace page.

NME-E: If you could choose a band to support you, who would it be?
Tres: Damien Dempsey is a particular favourite. But we'd have to go on first - Al is usually in tears by the end of his first song.

Clearly a bunch of old romantics...

NME-E: What was your favourite album of 2008?
Tres: REM's 'Accelerate' rocked. Al loved Van Morrison's 'Keep It Simple' too and Tom was diggin' on Neil Young's 'Chrome Dreams'.

You start to get a feel for The Trestles when you see who they're "diggin'"

NME-E: What are your objectives and prospects for 2009?
Tres: To keep up our run of live gigs (Mathew Street Festival 08, MTV Liverpool Music Week, support slots with Mull Historical Society, Ian McNabb and Amsterdam were all whoppers in the past few months) and for people to hear the Hard Faced Town EP.

Well, I'm definitely gonna be one of those who hears the EP and I recommend you do the same. In fact, do it right here, right now - it's not gonna break the bank!



As per usual, my sincerest thanks to The Trestles for taking the time to talk to NME-Europe. I wish them all the best with the release and ask you all to at least check them out here.

NME-Europe Recommends: The Maybes?

This week, NME-Europe is honoured to return to Liverpool and feature one of its recommended bands, The Maybes?

Now I'd be a liar to say I'd been monitoring this quintet's movements for a long time because, quite frankly, I hadn't heard of them until my last visit to the 'Pool last August. It was whilst sampling the local musical talent during the Mathew Street Festival that I read local radio DJ Dave Monk's rave review of this bunch of indie rockers and it was on the basis of his qualified judgement that I picked up their debut album "Promise".

It was immediately obvious that Mr. Monks was talking sense and, indeed, one of their tracks 'Summer Time' made it into my Top 10 tracks of 2008.

Despite almost ruining any chance of an interview my mis-naming their album on requesting some comments from them (still feel stupid for that!), the lads - Nick Ellis, Lee Smith, Timo Tierney (all guitar and vocals), Nick Otaegui (Bass Guitar and Vocals) and Dominic Allen (Drums and Percussion) - kindly agreed to talk to me. Timo acted as spokesperson, here's what he had to say:

NME-E: Who are you and how did you come about?
TM?: We are The Maybes? and I'm Timo, who plays guitar. We all met in different ways; I knew Lee, Lee knew Dom and Nick knew Nick. We all went to Liverpool Community College so we all passed paths and formed a band.

NME-E: What are your releases to date?
TM?: "Stop, Look & Listen" (7"), "Olympia" (e.p.) and "Promise" (full album)

I have "Promise" and can categorically state that it's a worthy addition to any collection. The album is a perfect demostration of the band's energetic brand of power pop, with tracks such as 'Talk About You', 'Boys', 'Modern Love', 'The Come Around' and, particular favourite, 'Summer Time' producing the desired effect immediately.

NME-E: If you could choose a band to support you, who would it be?
TM?: Girls Aloud. They all lovely and look fun, very different to every other band around.



Ha ha! Now's that's an unexpected answer if ever there was one! Timo's particular idea of talent spotting comes to light here!






NME-E: What was your favourite album of 2008?
TM?: Probably "In Rainbows" by Radiohead, although I'm bored of it now.

Which other blog would dare mention Girls Aloud and Radiohead in the same line!

NME-E: What are your objectives or prospects for the next 12 months?
TM?: Make more time for all my mates and hopefully make another album that will be a lot better than "Promise". When I say better I mean stronger songs and better production and playing. Everything that we do has got to be better than the last thing we done.... move forward not backwards.

"Promise" has set a very high standard, but Timo et al certainly have the ambition and the quality to achieve their goal. If you haven't heard their stuff already, get a life and check out their myspace and once you've understood why people rave forget the credit crunch for a moment, do them a favour a fork out a few bob on their album - it'll be a shewd bit of business if you do.



A massive gracias to Timo and the crew. All the best for the future and look forward to reviewing your next album in the near future.

Myspace Magic: Pipers

Having focused on two bands from the UK in the Myspace Magic crusade, the bronze medal winner sees us move to Continental Europe and, more precisely, to Naples in Italy. More famed for the Camorra than for its music, you might wonder how I stumbled upon these likely bambinos. The answer: Liverpool!




Coincidentially, I saw Pipers take the stage after The Little Hydes during the Mathew Street Festival. They had been selected from the Shockwaves competition and what a find they were. I really didn't know what to expect from this quartet and feared the worse when I saw what the lead guitarist looked like! However, the band proceeded to delight my ears with a short set of beautiful melodies and I soon found myself trying to find out where I could get their album (unfortunately, yet to be released).


A visit to their myspace and I was quickly enlightened. I decided to get in touch with them and they were kind enough to answer my questions. Here's what Pipers - Ste on vocals and acoustic guitar, Jube on electric guitars and backing vocals, Stefano B on bass and Angelo on drums and backing vocals - had to say:

NME-E: Who are you and how did you come about?
Pip: We're Pipers, an Italian band trying to sound as European as possibile. We love British music and we formed in early 2007. There are four of us and craft our indie pop on the likes of Travis, Turin Brakers, Starsailor, early Coldplay...

You can certainly see their influences in the music. The Spanish fans would also see the similarities with La Buena Vida.

NME-E: Tell us about your releases to date?
Pip: We're currently looking for a label as we just finished our first record. We do hope this will happen in the first part of this new year.

Checkout their sounds on their myspace page, my personal favourite is 'Under my skin', a melancholic sound which sticks in your mind.

NME-E: If you could choose a band to support you, who would it be?
Pip: Someone capable of bringing a big crowd as we need to spread our music and let people give us a listen.

An honest reply if ever there was one! Having supported the likes of Ian Brown and The Charlatans, they have a solid base on which to build.

NME-E: What was your favourite album of 2008?
Pip:'A hundred million suns' by Snow Patrol.

One of my Top 10 albums as well.

NME-E: What are your objectives and/or prospects for 2009?
Pip: To play outside our country as much as we can, maybe in Spain who knows. To find a label and/or management. To support some big acts across europe. To get the chance to do a new record as we already have new stuff, slighlty different from the songs we got on the first album.

Well, I'm trying my best to get them a spot in Murcia, but it's not an easy task. Shame really, as I think the Murcian public would like these guys. Won't give up trying just yet, though - they're worth the effort!

My sincerest thanks go to Ste, Jube, Stefano B and Angelo. Give them a chance and visit their myspace. Go on!

Myspace Magic: The Little Hydes

Having seen the light on myspace and, in particular, having come across a series of new bands, today sees the Myspace Magic section develop even further with the first of a series of interviews with the bands I feel deserve a chance to shine in the near future.


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.