Live Like Kings have really done it with their new single. Out on 15th July, fans of Kasabian, Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes will fall in love with these Brighton-based fellas, I promise.
Teenage Brass is exhilarating, well-written and incredibly well-produced. In fact, indie/rock bands of the UK seriously need to find out who their producer is and book yourselves a slot with them.
Live Like Kings have been on the radar for quite a while. They’ve had a few line up changes and have experimented with different styles but their live shows have always shown their potential to produce a single like this.
Keep your eyes and ears open guys, Live Like Kings are ready to launch. (You heard that here first.)
For a cheeky snapshot of ‘Teenage Brass’, check out their Facebook…
Preparing to brave the ice left from the snowfall the other day, I was wiping the cobwebs off my sensible shoes when I saw a tweet from Screama Ballerina, whom I had the pleasure of hanging out with in my Brighton days.
“We’ve been nominated for Amazing Radio’s Best British Rock Act. Pleease vote for us it takes to seconds to do it 🙂 http://ow.ly/8STHX”
One shoe on, one shoe off, I sat at my laptop and arranged an interview with their lead singer, Charlie, to see what was going on.
A few hours later, once I had finished being bambi on ice, I was sat on skype with Charlie and the bass player, Ciaran, talking business (and music).
A bit of context… Screama Ballerina is a punk/rock band consisting of Charlie (vocals), Ciaran (bass), Ben (drums) and Richie (guitar). Signed to a small DIY label, Velocity Recordings, they’ve spent the past year writing, gigging and gaining over 1,100 “likes” on facebook. They’re recognizable for being very ‘Tim Burton’– Charlie wears a tutu, Richie’s got a top hat, Ciaran’s got a bowler hat and they occasionally dress up as skeletons.
So to those of you who haven’t heard of Amazing Radio, it is the most popular independent radio station for new music. Screama Ballerina has been nominated by them as ‘best rock act’ and is currently in the lead with 81% against Mechanical Smile and Heroes & Outlaws.
During my chat with Charlie and Ciaran, I thought up some key reasons why they should have your attention.
1.“Nobody cares about your Abercrombie bra” This is Charlie’s (and my) favourite lyric from their debut single ‘Rich Kids’ – which was coincidently voted “Track of the week” by Amazing Radio. She’s a kick-arse, Sex Pistols style lyricist: “Something will trigger me to get angry and I’ll need to write something down … well, I say that I’m angry when I write songs but I kind of laugh at things to deal with it.”
2. Charlie’s nan is a ballerina “She’s 70, she can barely walk but she still teaches ballet” – Charlie is a very proud granddaughter. On stage, Charlie wears tutus (hence the name). She was a ballerina herself but explained “I like wearing heals – ballerina’s aren’t meant to wear heals…” She does however have a ballerina tattoo after the midwife predicted when she was born that she’d be either a ballerina or mad – so she combined the two.
3. The band is filled with madness Ciaran: His name is the ‘bullet point man’ because he “speaks in bullet points” – grammatically organized, nice.
Ben: “Ben is the master of the voice, he can do comedy accents that you’ll never imagine possible” – explained by Ciaran (sadly not in Bullet Point form)
Richie: “Richie makes up characters, me (Charlie) and Richie are going to write a musical one day” – one day Charlie, one day.
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Charlie: “Our favourite gig was at Coalition, ‘Love Music Hate Racisim’ – the crowds were really mental and really joined in with us” Ciaran: “They were all singing, they knew every word to rich kids off the top of their head and we were just standing there watching everyone singing it was like – woah”
Ok, so not all of us have the best memories and can recite lyrics but here are a few Screama Ballerina that are very fun to sing along to:
Rich Kids
“Nobody cares about your Abercrombie bra”
“Oh well, it’s ok, they’re just a different class – they’re better than us, they’re better than us”
“They’re running the country, they’re meant to be the ones that we trust.”
“Oh daddy, oh daddy I need a new dress”
“Of course dear have my credit card and all the rest”
Skeleton Army
“I don’t want to be a skeleton, I don’t want transparent skin”
“Join the skeleton army”
“These are the rules we live by, are you in or are you out?”
“I don’t want to love a skeleton, feel them breaking in your arms”
Their third single “Papercut” is out at the end of March – *watch the space* obviously.
I’m afraid the title is not a message to you (although I do love you for supporting this blog), instead it is the title of the debut single from Brighton/Hereford based ‘Daniel and the Scandals’ out Monday (16th January). Personally, I am relieved that this feel-good, catchy, cheesy but incredibly addictive song is being thrown out into the world because it has the potential to put smiles on a lot of people faces. And, let’s face it, people should smile more.*
With 9,853 followers on twitter, the only way that frontman Dan Scott could explain this is “I guess I’m accidentally amusing . . . possibly!” Possibly… from the sounds of it though, it looks like it’s his music that’s catching attention with tweets like “@Daniel_Scandal listened to you on the radioooo, making an account on itunes just for your song haha #thereyougoisaidit” and “@Daniel_Scandal Just watched your music video, loved the song! Good luck!” Some crazy tweeters have even created fan accounts like @DansLilScandals, @DanScottsArmy, @DansScandals and @MRS_SCANDAL – it’s pretty impressive building such an obsessive fan base before the release of the debut single.
Rooted by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Tom Robinson and BBC DJ Andrew Marston, Daniel and the Scandals create a party at every gig – literally. Supplying the audience with cake and balloons, their shows are always one to remember. Regardless of whether or not you enjoy pop music on ‘The Wombats’, ‘Mika’, ‘Scouting for Girls’ end of the spectrum, you will probably hum this bands tunes and justify it with the stamp “guilty pleasure”.
Daniel and the Scandals have started up a campaign to get “I love you (there you go I said it)” in the top 40. If you find yourself getting a cheeky little grin when you listen to it, then this is the campaign to get involved in. http://www.facebook.com/events/103636069757612/
“With the continued support of our fans, anything’s possible!” This Dan, you big softy, is incredibly true. With 9,853 followers on twitter and 3,662 views of his music video (posted below) in the past two weeks, I would bet money* that one day he may just get into the charts. Heck, maybe he’ll even get into it with his debut single.
P x
p.s. A classic Dan Scott quote (bless him): “we love all of our fans (there we go we said it!)”
*shameless Newton Faulkner reference
*if I had any money
Pippa Says 