Attention! ATTENTION THIEVES! Attention!

Attention Thieves



I caught up with the fiery foursome from Reading who are ready to kick out the jams on to the mainstream scene!



 Formed in 2009, the alternative-rock foursome known as ‘Attention Thieves’ are only just around the corner from storming on to the mainstream scene. Only at the beginning of this year the boys signed to highly respected and well renowned Velocity Records.

 These guys have all played in a string of bands from their early school years and have now teamed up for their best project yet! Lead vocalist Alex Green comes from the well-established hard rock hook-up, ‘Arusha Accord‘. All four members are well experienced in the rock-thirsty, spunk pumping music scene and are well known to blow your thinker with their blue-blood, elite live performances.

 Attention Thieves are more than just your generic rock band, these guys are loaded with a sound that is a collective of the visceral guitar licks of the Foo Fighters and vocals that are on a par with artists like Mr Grohl himself and Rages’ own Zach De La Rocha. Even so, the boys pride themselves with a sound that is unique to them, being influenced by music from each end of the musical spectrum.
 Taking a break from gigging around the country last year, they have been working hard in the studio with big name UK rock producer Dave Chang on their new single ‘Let It All Out’, which is to be released at the end of the month. This no-nonsense rock record proves the guys stand out from the crowd with massive potential, keeping their sound underground and original to the pure definition of what rock music is all about. The track has been described as ‘A coming of age’ and ‘Their best work yet’. 

Still only in the early years of what’s set to be a long musical career for the band and with a busy year ahead, I caught up with them to talk about their new single, gigs and what their plans are for the near future.

How are we all?
We are all well thank you.

How did you guys get together to form Attention Thieves?

We were all friends at school together and have been jamming together in and out of bands, but never as a foursome. So when the various bands came to an end we all found ourselves looking to start a new band, we finally realised that the obvious thing to do was to become Attention Thieves.

How did you create your hard rock/punk status and your unique sound? Was it based on your previous experiences playing in other bands or were there any particular influences who inspired your sound?

I think the sound of Attention Thieves is due to the fact that all of us listen to various genres of music and so this translates into our writing. Being in previous bands together has helped us write, because we know how each other work. The sound we've got has evolved over time and will continue to do so. There's not one particular influence that we take inspiration from but rather we take it from many different genres, bands and personal experiences.

We're still so early into 2011 and you've recently just signed to highly respectable Velocity Records. How did that come about?

 We've put a lot of hard work into the band, we've been getting our hands dirty and promoting ourselves and so Velocity noticed us and liked what we were doing so picked us up.

That's not all though! Your new single 'Let It All Out' is to be released on 28th February I hear! You worked with big UK producer Dave Chang on this record. How did that happen? Did you enjoy working with him?

Yeh that's right! Working with Dave was a really good experience because he was very thorough with his pre production which made recording the single a lot easier for us, we came into the studio with a thought out plan and delivered.

How can people get their hands all over this?

From Monday 28th of February the single will be distributed by Believe Digital so you can download if from itunes, amazon, hmv.com and all other major online music stores. You can also listen to it on spotify.

As well as working on the new single, You've been working away in the studio over the last couple of months with yet another big name producer on two further releases, which are due later this spring? You HAVE been busy! How's it all going?

Yep we've been working at outhouse studios on the next two singles with John Mitchell who some of us have worked with before. We are real excited for people to hear them, they sound huge! the best thing we have done by a mile. For now though people are going to have to come check them out at shows if they want to hear them.

And there are to be video releases for both of these tracks too?

Correctamundo Video is in the works and people will be able to see the video for the next single soon.

You spent a lot of time last year playing lots of live shows, Any plans to tour later this year? Any festival slots lined up?

Yea not as much as we would have liked to though, this year we just plan to get on the road as much as possible and show as many people as possible what we are about. We pride ourselves in our live performances, we practice almost every day.

What's your most memorable live show that you have played? Good or bad!

There have been some great gigs recently and one moment that stands out is a show where people were going absolutely nuts! We looked up and saw a human pyramid! It wasn’t the biggest venue but it was rammed and you can really feel the energy from the crowd at gigs like that!

As a tight, energetic rock band, do you feel that your live performances are your main means to promoting yourselves and getting yourselves out there? Obviously it's what you guys do best!

As mentioned previously we pride ourselves on our live performance, we give it all we got and want people to remember us when we leave the show but live performance isn't the be all and end all, it is more important for rock bands( as CD sales have dropped dramatically) to draw people to shows but great songs and recordings will always be important.

For those people who are yet to hear your sound, where can they go to find out more, have a cheeky listen and find out about upcoming gigs?

People can check out are release dates, tracks, upcoming gigs, videos, photos and more at the various links below.

http://www.attentionthieves.co.uk/

www.facebook.com/attentionthieves

www.twitter.com/atbanduk

www.youtube.com/attentionthieves



 

I catch up with DRY THE RIVER's Peter Liddle!

DRY THE RIVER

                              ‘If it’s dark outside, you light the fire yourself…’



The post-punk reborn folkies featured in NME only a couple of weeks ago captured my attention to a point where I was dying to find out more…so that’s exactly what I did! Do read on…



   It’s funny how as if by coincidence, any situation or step you take in life can lead to something life changing…something I can only describe as a kind of butterfly effect, which is how Dry The River was incarnated. It would surprise you that the quintet from the sordid surroundings of Stratford, East London all united together by chance, each individually crashing a mutual friends wedding as little as a year and a half ago to become the close collaboration that they are today. Funny that!
   Following influential faces by the likes of Arcade fire, Bon Iver and the wise word wizard Leonard Cohen, the former punk/rock practitioners are quickly climbing up the rungs of the long music industry ladder on to the mainstream scene carrying a folkesque vibe about them. Their unique sound consists of this collaboration of strings, electrics, angelic vocals and cradling beats that escalate into stomping choruses, reaching inside you with extreme intimacy and energy.
   The guys have herds of fans whose hearts have been won over with their pastoral melodies and storytelling qualities, which are infused with a storm of emotion to leave you almost tongue-tied by the intensity of their moving live performances. It’s no wonder when they come out with gems such as ‘Bible Belt’ it leaves the audience completely spellbound.
    Even though they may have once satisfied their musical hunger with the head banging beats of At The Drive In and Refused, playing in local punk/rock bands previously, their current project is less likely to give leave you with a headache.
   Dry The River have supported the likes of Plan B, Johnny Flynn and Magic numbers. Now we’re only just in to 2011, DTR have been cracking on. Their single ‘New Ceremony’ is to be released on Monday March 7^th and the boys are currently State side recording exciting material for their debut album predicted to be released later this year.

I caught up with front man Peter Liddle for a chinwag, who kindly took some time out for me to talk about how things are going!



  You're a group of five friends who all live together in Stratford, East London. How did you all get together to form Dry The River? You also have a rehearsal room in your basement? nice!

We met at a wedding that we'd all independently crashed, and after an impromptu weekend in the holiday home of the bride's father we became the best of friends. It's a cool story, they should make it into a film!
   
    I heard that you guys all come from punk/rock backgrounds in the past? So what influenced you all to come together and create the fresh, beautiful folky/story like sound you preach?
 
That's true yeah, in our fledgling years as musicians we listened to and played in a lot of post punk and hardcore kinda bands. At that point I wasn't really a songwriter, I just wrote lyrics and sang in other people's bands. Then I had a bit of a musical hiatus for a while and almost unconsciously started to revisit a lot of records my mother used to listen to: Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Suzanne Vega, Dylan, and write these bare bones folk songs. That's why initially the early Dry the River demos are closer to that kind of sound. Since then we've brought those punk and rock influences back in, and I guess the result is kind of folk songs played by a rock band.

  If any in particular, who would you say was an influence for you that you looked up to when creating your unique sound? Any role models?

I think Arcade Fire are a band who taught me that you can begin with a restrained, intimate little song and build it up into something broader and more intense. I used to be quite afraid of that approach but if you're attentive you can do that without losing the essence of the song.

  Am I right in saying that when you were at Uni in Bristol, you shut yourself away and wrote lots of songs? Is that how the band then later came to surface?
To a degree, yeah (is that a pun?). Bristol was the first time I began to trust myself as a songwriter a little more, although Dry the River actually came later - there were a number of haphazard projects in that time that were important for me formatively but weren't ultimately productive for whatever reason.

  Your songwriting has a storytelling quality that, I know for me in particular listens to and can relate to what you sing out loud. Are many of the songs to do with past personal experiences? I noticed there were a few religious references in some of the songs too.

The songs aren't heart-on-sleeve, verbatim accounts of my experiences. I think if they were they'd probably be fairly unexciting, aside from anything else. I know artists who do use their daily lives as the crux of their creative output and I admire it, but I tend to struggle with that kind of approach. That's not to say the songs and lyrics are fictitious - at the core they're informed by own experiences and emotional responses, but I prefer to explore that in a more ambiguous way, sometimes through narrative. I hope that leaves more room for the listener to interpret and relate. As for the religious imagery, I learnt to sing in the church and I find the language to be a very poignant way to describe the various tribulations we all face.

   What have you guys got planned this year? Are you recording the debut album later this year? Is there anywhere that people can grab hold of your music currently?

We have a single, New Ceremony, out on March 7th through Transgressive Records. I'm fairly certain there'll be an album before the end of the year - right now we're working on the material and finalising the practical details. Stay tuned!

  What is your favourite song to play live?

It changes every day! We go through periods where certain songs inexplicably start to become more or less consistent and they change in our perceptions accordingly. I guess Family Tree and Bible Belt often seem to get a good response and that makes them more rewarding to play.

   You played a gig at the Borderline in London tonight (Feb 5th) for HMVs next big thing...how was it? Are there any gigs coming up soon that people can all pop along to?
　
The Borderline show was a lot of fun, people seemed to know the songs and were really attentive. We have some shows coming up with Two Door Cinema Club before we head to Austin TX for SXSW. The best thing is to check www.facebook.com/drytheriver - there's a "Shows" tab at the top which has a list of the upcoming dates.

 
 

MY PRESERVER concluded...due to my blogger seriously screwing around! apologies..

My Preserver have hit the ground running as they pound into 2011. You heard it, their first outing this year that you can pop along to is at The Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel,London on Wednesday 2nd February.

Tickets are available at http://www.glasswerk.co.uk/

Alternatively, you can keep up to date with the bands whereabouts and upcoming performances at the following.

http://www.mypreserver.com/

...or have a tweet with them at www.twitter.com/mypreserver

Watch this space ;)

Introducing MY PRESERVER!

Introducing…MY PRESERVER

“A sound between the ferocity of Nine Inch Nails and the swagger of Hendrix”

 

 
   In 2007 four friends by the names of Jon, Ash, Marcus and Tom formed a band known as MY PRESERVER in the area of West London.
  These guys aren’t your average band as we see many pop their heads up all over the place these days. No; this four-piece rock sensation are set to barge their way into the mainstream scene with their majestic, double-dyed songwriting skills that intertwine with a funky and somewhat emotive sound. Along with these qualities and their immense flamboyancy and energy, they never fail to deliver soul scorching performances.
  Having played pretty much every underground rock club in London town, these guys have been building a steady following of rock-thirsty fans over the last few years. Already they carry a track record of playing at notorious London clubs including the Clapham Grand, 229 and 100 club to name a few; My Preserver have been working hard to promote themselves and get their faces known.
  The band are set to have yet another busy year ahead, kicking off with the release of their self-funded debut album ‘Revolutions In The Head’ produced by Premen Underhill (Klaxons/Bloc Party) this spring. The album is rubbing its nose in the media before even being released, having received a nomination for the XFM New Music Awards. The guys told me,
  ‘We're really taken back by the XFM New Music Awards nomination, particularly considering the album hasn't even been released yet. It's great to see our record up there amongst so many established artists many of which with the backing of major labels, really couldn't have been a better start to the year’ .
    I couldn’t agree more, which is why I asked Jon the guitarist of the band a few questions to find out about upcoming gigs, their invasion of Germany this year and how their luck up until now has set them in bright lights for 2011.

(DEBUT SINGLE 'LOOSE CHANGE')

Last year was a busy year for you guys! You successfully recorded/produced the debut album 'Revolutions In The Head' , which is set to be released this spring! All the hard work is about to pay off! ...You worked alongside producer Premen Underhill (Klaxons/Bloc party) ...awesome what was that like? Happy with the results?

“Premen is a really talented guy that understood what we were going for and how to help us achieve it. All the songs had already been recorded before but Premen was the missing link in our studio sound. Rock music is notoriously difficult to record so having the expertise and experience of someone like Premen is very valuable, we really enjoyed working with him and we're very proud of the result.”

　

...How long did the album take to record? Where did all the magic happen?

“These things do always take longer than you expect and there's quite a history to this album being made and then re-made. Drums were recorded in Miloco's Garden Studio and everything else was recorded on a Laptop in a barn, peoples houses, all over the place...... If it sounded good then we'd record there. In total it took about 4 months to record and mix the record.”

...you also launched a video for 'Loose Change' recently...which is sick! any plans to make more videos this year?

　

“Shameless Productions came to our show at the Barfly and loved it so we're planning on doing a follow up video with them at some point this year. They were the folks responsible for the most recent I Am Arrows video.”

A little birdie tweeted to us all recently that you're 'Planning your invasion of Germany' ? Watch out Europe...so you guys have plans to tour this year? “We hope to be announcing the Germany tour really soon, at the moment it looks like it's going to be happening late spring/early summer.”

Planning on playing at any festivals this year?

 

“It's all in the pipeline but unfortunately we're not allowed to announce anything just yet”

Last but not least... Are there any gigs that we can all pop along to in the coming weeks/months? ...of course next week, you're set to play at the Rhythm Factory in London (2nd Feb) Got anything special in store for us?

“Well two of those new songs will be played for the first time at next weeks Rhythm Factory show on February 2nd and we're really looking forward to starting the year with some new tunes.”

Rock and Roll isn't drowning...It's just waving two fingers!!



Rock ‘n’ Roll isn’t drowning, it’s just waving two fingers!

“It’s the end of the rock era. It’s over, in the same way the jazz era is over.” - Gambaccini… you WHAT now?
      So we’ve all been hearing about the controversy across the newspapers and radio recently about the fact that ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll is dying out’. Look what good old Paul Gambaccini A.K.A, the professor of pop has let out the bag now. It got our jaws wagging when one of the UK’s well-known music reporters and former Radio 1 Dj continued on to say,
“…This doesn’t mean there will be no more good rock musicians, but rock as a prevailing style is part of music history.”
  
  …dude, I don’t know what your taking but it has really pulled the stage curtains over your eyes. Gambo came to this absurd conclusion based on the fact that last year, only 3 songs out of the top 100 UK chart songs were by guitar-based bands, according to ‘Music week’ . The highest ranking of the 3 being a re-release of 'Don’t stop believin' ' by US. Rock band ‘Journey’, which peaked at number 25 in the charts. Well I’ve got news for you my friend, you say we are witnessing the last gasps of what’s been the soul dominant sound of our counterculture for the best part of 50 years, but facts and figures don’t mean jack!

    Its irrefutable to say that just because rock and roll doesn’t rear its rebellious head in the charts, it’s going extinct…just because Beethoven isn’t in the top 20, does that automatically mean classical music is dead? Many would beg to differ.
     It’s true, perhaps that many more young people these days are influenced by TV reality shows such as The X Factor and US. Teen drama Glee. It may also be true that nowadays, that the main artists who are getting the most radio airplay are those that come under genres that are Hip-hop inflected and influenced by urban electronica.

   Does anybody other than pre-pubescent girls and Simon Cowell really give a damn who actually tops the singles charts these days?

    The fact is, rock itself as a genre is such a broad term; it’s hard to define it. Big names like Hendrix, Buckley and Pink Floyd exerted an influence, which has been paramount to great musical acts that have followed. Take ‘Mumford & Sons’ for example. These guys stormed on to the scene in 2008(where they reached number 10 in the UK charts), with a sound that was innovative, fresh and novel. Their folk-rock riffs and their configuration of mandolins, accordions and string bass were enough to make the likes of Ms Gaga and Guetta…or whatever his name was, fall flat on their faces.



   Rock music isn’t fading out of the limelight. If anything, its more alive than ever before. It’s just diversifying and splintering into many sub-genres. We’re seeing more great rock acts than we can shake a stick at, sprout on the flower-bed of the music industry. I believe that instead of issuing a death certificate, as many believe this to be the case, we are actually shortly entering a new golden era of rock music. It’s underground. Rock has once again become the outsider; the Maverick.

   The visceral thrill of an electric guitar riff , which pumps through the veins of the many generations of rock ‘n’ roll fans is something which is timeless. It continues to thrive. Festivals are in rude health. Rock acts headline the stages.

 
  Ignore the charts. Ignore what Gaga Gambo says, he’s clearly having a mid-life crisis...

              Rock is definitely not in a hard place. It’s in its place…on the stage!