Latest News
Taylor Swift Interpolates Right Said Fred’s ‘I’m Too Sexy’!
Taylor Swift’s first single from her long-awaited and highly anticipated 6th studio album Reputation has arrived. The multi-award winning Swift has given Right Said Fred a writing credit on the single 'Look What You Made Me Do', which features an interpolation of the band’s 1991 debut hit single 'I'm Too Sexy'.
Press around the globe have been keen to chat to the band about the interpolation including BBC News, Buzzfeed, Rolling Stone, Evening Standard, Washington Post, NME, People, Billboard and The Telegraph. Swift’s interpolation has brought much deserved attention to Right Said Fred, one of pop music’s most enduring acts, bringing a new generation of fans to the beloved 90s hit.
Swift and her team reached out to brothers, Richard and Fred Fairbrass, to let them know about the interpolation not long before the single dropped but the sound of the track itself remained shrouded in mystery, and the pair first heard it on the morning of Friday 25th August 2017 along with the rest of the world.
“We’re really happy with Taylor’s take,” says frontman Richard. “Her track is broody and slightly dark - we love it. We think a mash-up would be great too.” Here’s hoping the internet responds!
In celebration of the track, the band are releasing the I'm Too Sexy EP on September 1st 2017, which features three tracks, a re-recording of the original single along with an electro swing and deep house remix.
Earlier this year, Right Said Fred released their 9th studio album Exactly! and are currently preparing for a string of live dates in 2018.
Right Said Fred’s 'I’m Too Sexy’ EP' is available to pre-order now via their official site and all good online outlets.
Happy Abandon release new album ‘Facepaint’!
"...musically it could be Happy Abandon's most confident album yet."
- Clash Magazine
"...Indie nostalgia, with a sugary, unique twist and Pop sensibility." - Paste Magazine
Happy Abandon’s sophomore album Facepaint is out now via Schoolkids Records and available to stream on Spotify and buy on iTunes.
A collection of heartfelt, melancholic melodies that simmer under the surface toward an ever increasing crescendo of orchestral indie rock, Facepaint is a wonderful sonic journey from the first note to the last.
The band released Heavy Lines as their final single prior to the album dropping, with Clash Magazine premiering the track on their site. You can stream and embed Heavy Lines via the Happy Abandon Soundcloud page.
This followed previous single Severed Seams, picked up by the likes of The Revue, Impose Magazine and For The Rabbits, which is also available to stream on the Happy Abandon Soundcloud page.
Despite featuring songs about loss, Peter Vance (vocals & guitar) is quick to point out that Facepaint is not a breakup album. He explains “if the album were to have a subject, it would be the relationship a person has to loss and loneliness, which can manifest itself through breakups, homelessness, familial abandonment, and death”. These relationships provide the outline for Facepaint, from the emotions they conjure, to the settings in which they exist and the face paint we all hide behind to make those heartbreaks a little more palatable. Vance’s lead vocal soars throughout, combined with powerful lyrics and a dynamic string arrangement to create cinematic pop music at its best.
The band released the first single If I Stare from their forthcoming album last year, which premiered on Paste Magazine who described the track as "a blissful and enchanting bed of music".
Forming in early 2015, Happy Abandon’s Peter Vance, Justin Ellis (bass & vocals) and Jake Waits (percussion & vocals) met at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Within a few weeks of performing together, they worked their way onto bills at local shows before taking off to tour the east coast of the US and Canada. It was at SXSW that the band initially hooked up future label head Stephen Judge, playing multiple slots at his annual SXSW party. From there, a relationship was born that would eventually lead to Judge’s offering Happy Abandon a recording contract via his freshly rebranded label Schoolkids Records.
Happy Abandon’s album Facepaint is out now via Schoolkids Records stream on Spotify and buy on iTunes.
HVMM reveal new video for ‘Going Postal’ + live dates!
"Heavy riffing with a blistering dose
of sarcasm..."
- Clash
"...a ferocious blast of thundering blues rock with a spine of steel."
- Classic Rock
"... a distinct, inspired swagger..."
- Gigslutz
Worcester’s apoplectic rockers HVMM are about to unleash their debut EP Talk To Me like I’m Dead on 1st September 2017 via ILA, which is available to pre-order now.
The band's new video for Going Postal premiered on Clash and is now available to watch on the HVMM YouTube channel.
The band previously shared the audio for Going Postal, which premiered on Classic Rock and is also available to stream via the HVMM Soundcloud page now.
Kicking-off with their ferocious first single Lacerate, HVMM combine blues rock influences with eerie bass lines and melodic riffs to create something truly powerful. Lead singer Andy Teece’s sharp, distinctive vocal steals the show, sounding akin to the likes of Jack White or Rage Against the Machine’s Zach De La Rocha. Double a-side single Beggars and Thieves / Going Postal continues the band’s anachronistic and subversive themes with Beggars and Thieves slamming head first into unapologetic, heavy-laced rock and Going Postal’s impressively slick vocals from lead guitarist Ebony Clay complimenting Andy’s charged sound perfectly.
“Try limiting any preconceived ideas when listening to the tracks and enjoy them for what they may or may not be to you,” Andy explains and goes on to say, “or choose to get suckered in by some standard marketing bullshit to help lead you down the road like a two-year-old, needing constant guidance when learning to use a knife and fork”.
Having met as a result of an unexplained scuffle in a county pub, Andy and Sam Jenkins (drums) formed the band in 2015. Andy and Ebony then went on to meet as a result of Ebony approaching him in his favourite coffee shop and after a caffeine- induced conversation followed by alcohol, Ebony found herself in the band. Ebony then called upon her old friend Jack Timmis (bass) and the line up was complete. Although the band are still new to the scene, their irrepressible and unforgettable presence on the live circuit, which is epitomised by their relentless energy, has seen them become the first British act signed to US label ILA.
With Talk To Me Like I’m Dead there are no fucks given and HVMM are ready to share their raucous, terrifying sound with the rest of the world.
You can catch HVMM live at the following dates:
3rd September - Live Instore - Rise, Worcester - Free Entry
22nd November - Sebright Arms - London - Tickets
Talk To Me Like I’m Dead is out on 1st September 2017 via ILA and is available to pre-order now.
The Duke Spirit’s new album ‘Sky Is Mine’ out now!
"...their sharpest, bravest album to
date." - Q Magazine
"...steeped in an aura of reverb and psychedelia..."
- Consequence of Sound
"...easily one of Britain's best experimental rock outfits."
- Gigwise
The Duke Spirit's poignant new album Sky Is Mine is out now via Ex Voto Records and is available to buy and stream here.
To celebrate the release, the video for the band's latest single Houses premiered on Under The Radar and is now available to watch on the band's YouTube channel.
The band's previous single In Breath premiered on Wonderland Magazine and is now available to stream on The Duke Spirit's Soundcloud page.
Produced by the band themselves, and mixed by Bruno Ellingham (Massive Attack), the album also features guest vocals by long time friends Josh T Pearson (Lift to Experience) on the woozy ‘How Could, How Come’, and Duke Garwood on album closer ‘Broken Dream’.
On Sky Is Mine each song approaches, revises, steps back and looks for humanity on a planetary scale. From the shimmering melodies and prodigious power of tracks like 'Magenta' and ‘See Power’ to the energy-fuelled psychedelic rock of ‘Houses’ and ‘Yoyo’, the album flows with a dark, beguiling grandeur with the majestic allure of Liela Moss’ crystal vocals. Sky Is Mine looks at harm, control and lack of love but burns through it to find the essential human heart.
Talking about the album, front-woman Liela Moss explains: "Sonically, it's the most tender record we have made, the expansiveness will lift hearts but the rawness will burn through greedy fingers. Lyrically, this is where I stand... With feet cold and wet from standing in the sludge of fear that is the world we tread upon, this album snapshots a palpitating heart that values above all things, life. Half-finished sentences describe nasty bits and pieces, shards of cruelty as they are dissolved by being pissed on from a great height with a stream of golden, glowing benevolence!"
Continuing to prove themselves as one of the UK’s most enduring and distinctive rock acts, The Duke Spirit are known for their captivating live shows and will continue to hypnotise listeners with the sweeping power of Sky Is Mine.
Sky Is Mine is out now via Ex Voto Records and is available to buy and stream here.
Gallery 47 shares new video for ‘Analytical & Open’!
“…a soothing piece of melancholia
that dwells on mature, rounded
themes.” - Clash
“…pastoral beauty and tight songwriting…”
- M Magazine
“…Jeff Buckley-esque vibrato with sheer youthful exuberance…”
- Drowned in Sound
Since the release of his critically acclaimed album Clean, alt-folk songwriter Gallery 47 aka Jack Peachey has been preparing to share his colourfully political follow up album, Adversity Breeds. This second album, as part of a trilogy, will be out on 22nd September 2017 via AWAL / Bad Production Records.
The quirky, single shot video for Analytical & Open premiered on PRS' M Magazine and is now available to watch on Gallery 47's YouTube channel now.
Jack explains “if Clean was the romantic album, Adversity Breeds is the divorce”. Influenced by a holiday row between Peachey and some family members who commented negatively on today’s youth, Jack combines real life events and fiction to create a captivating blend of upbeat, sentimental and bittersweet tracks. Each track on the album offers something poignant and different. Whether its the lighthearted nature of ‘Analytical & Open’ or the dark, brooding songwriting of ‘In Odessa’, Peachey continues to create soft, wistful tales of melancholy that are highly relatable. Jack maintains his signature soft, vibrato throughout whilst effortlessly blending his intricate guitar plucking and storytelling charm echoing Bob Dylan’s raw, colloquial writing style.
The audio for the track is also available to stream now via Gallery 47's Soundcloud page.
Gallery 47 originally formed ten years ago as a six-piece band in Loughborough. Once the band went their separate ways, Jack decided to continue as a solo artist under the same name, becoming a regular on the live circuit in Nottingham and currently in his new home of South East London. Jack called upon a number of the same musicians who performed on Clean to play on Adversity Breeds, introducing a sense of familiarity to the latter, entwined with layers of texture and emotion throughout.
Amongst Jack’s supporters are BBC Radio 2‘s Bob Harris, BBC 6music’s Tom Robinson, The Guardian, Drowned in Sound, Clash and Folk Radio to name a few. Gallery 47 has also supported a number of well established acts like Paul Weller, Alice Phoebe Loe, Ian McCulloch and Andrew Montgomery as well as playing on the BBC Introducing stage at T in the Park.
With Adversity Breeds, Jack tackles the subject of standing up for a good cause whilst being rejected by those closest to you. A subject that is possibly at its most relatable now more than ever.
Adversity Breeds by Gallery 47 is due for release on 22nd September 2017 via Bad Production Records.