JUST THE WAY WE LIKE IT: Our feature on Kartica's new EP 'Last Gang In Town'! Features a review and band member Joe talks us through the EP track by track!

 

 

Below is our feature on Kartica's superb EP 'Last Gang In Town'! You can see our review of the EP in Part 1 and in Part 2 you can see band member Joe Troughton talk us through the EP track by track!

 

To stay up to date with future interviews like our facebook page at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords

 

 

PART 1 - "AB SAYS..."

 

"To fill stadiums the eighties had U2, the nineties had Oasis, the noughties had Kasabian and the 2010's will have Kartica. This six-song EP entitled 'Last Gang In Town' backs this up perfectly as the band unleash their arena rock sound on our hears in a beautifully crafted set of songs that clocks in at just under half an hour. You can hear it all - soaring vocals, roaring guitars and a driving rhythm section. It may be easy for reviewers to pigeon hole this band as 'the new Oasis' but we truly do believe there is something more to them than this which is perhaps best demonstrated in the anthemic tones of lead track 'Hard To Find'. Other highlights include the opening combo of 'Where It All Begins' and 'Lonely When It's Gone' which truly do set the tone for anthemic rock with the swagger of the britpop movement of the nineties. However, Kartica are not all flat out rock and roll as they demonstrate well on the acoustic guitar driven 'Fortnight From Now' and the much more laidback 'Dare To Dream'. The EP finishes with a bang with perhaps the strongest song of the lot in the form of the superb 'Just The Way We Like It'. This has perhaps the strongest chorus and will surely be a huge sing-along moment live. Overall, an exceptional EP by a band that will surely be filling the stadiums one day soon."

 

 

PART 2 - "KARTICA SAYS..."

 

Band member Joe Troughton talks us through the EP track by track!

 

"Where It All Begins"

 

"This is an upbeat & catchy song with a weird chord in it that I don't even know the name of! I think it's Bsus98add7A. Lyrically, and the last thing I want to do is sound political in any way, it is basically about the contradictions and hypocritical nature of today's society. It drives me mad and it upsets me that it leaves so many people confused at the thought of what to do to 'fit in'. Think 'Daily Mail'. Everyone should just feel free to be their self!"

 

"Lonely When It's Gone"

 

"Sing-along chorus! I love the simplicity of this song in terms of chords, riff and structure. It's basically about fighting to keep hold of something that has meant a lot to you for a number of years (not necessarily your missus!) It's immense to play live with the tempo changes etcetera - the crowd go mental! I love how it's recorded which is amazing really considering we'd gigged the night before, been blind drunk and the bass player had had zero sleep!"

 

"Hard To Find"

 

"One of my very favourite Kartica songs. To me, musically, it sums up everything about what Kartica should be and are. The lyrics are about keeping things simple and not having your thoughts clouded by surrounding nonsense. It's about perspective; most things are sorted pretty easily if you take a step back. 'It's getting hard to find, but it's easy to see'."

 

"Fortnight From Now"

 

"I love this one although I would say that because I sing it! Recorded in five hours from start to finish in what was meant to be the first of two studio sessions; it came out so well I didn't want to change anything about it. Lyrically, it's basically about not being afraid to make decisions; sometimes you've gotta make your mind up and embrace change. Positivity all the way. There's also a touch of sentiment in there which I'm a sucker for, to be honest."

 

"Dare To Dream"

 

 "Written by Hooky so you'd have to speak to him about the lyrical content. My take on it is that it's about sticking together, not worrying too much and looking forwards; telling someone close to you that you've got their back no matter what. The riff is beyond epic in my opinion."

 

"Just The Way We Like It"

 

"Again, an absolute live winner. It's just catchy rock and roll with a massive, uplifting chorus. That's what music is all about as far as I'm concerned. It's about unity, hope and belief."

 

 

Be sure to bag yourself a copy of this EP it's going to be a rare gem one day! Also, if you happen to be in Sheffield on the 29th March be sure to get along to the Bar Abbey on Abbeydale Road to see Kartica perform live as part of 'The Underground Gig'! It promises to be a good night and the performance is being filmed!

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this feature on Kartica! Check out our previous feature on The  Most!
 

Check out Kartica here - https://www.facebook.com/Karticamusic

Get your copy of 'Last Gang In Town' here - http://kartica.bandcamp.com/

You can also like our facebook page to keep up to date with all future interviews at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords

 

AB RECORDS

GET ON IT: Our interview with Paul from The Toi! Read about their latest single, working with members of The Darkness and much, much more!

 

PART 1 - "THE INTERVIEW"

 

What is your earliest musical memory and what pushed you towards pursuing a career in the music business?

 

"It'd be my sister getting the 'Bad' album on cassette and playing it non-stop. Then 'Moonwalker' the film and my old man blasting Billy Joel in the car - that and eighties pop radio."

 

What kind of records were on around the house when you were younger and would you say that these records still influence your music today?

 

"Our folks have pretty much similar taste - the Eagles, Billy Joel, Queen etc...of course MJ featured heavily as did The Beatles...they are very much an influence.You've got to learn from and pay homage to the greats!"

 

Had you been involved in any other bands or musical ventures before The Toi?

"We've all done various sessions here and there and played with other bands with friends."

 

How did The Toi begin?

 

"We all knew one another from playing football as kids and then we'd hang about with mutual friends. I think the same as most bands do when they get together. We couldn't really play, had never written anything but we knew we wanted to be in a rock 'n' roll band, so we learned our instruments to a decent standard and played with different bands learning as we went. Then about two and a half years ago we thought 'let's make a real go of this thing!' and here we are!"

 

Where did the name The Toi come from?

 

"It was an old friend - we were trying to get names or ideas of names...he hit out with 'The Toi' and it just kinda stuck. We'd like to point out we are not a buckfast fuelled street gang. We now decant our tonic!"

 

How would you describe the sound of The Toi?

 

"In a few words...big, melodic, catchy and hooky."

 

Your latest single is ‘Get On It’ – an upbeat slice of glam rock. What influenced the song and what is the song itself about?

 

"It's really a very Neanderthal chorus - it's very simple to sing along. It's about a certain type of woman that behaves in an entirely selfish way and she uses men for her own ends. There's at least one in every bar on any given night...I think both the guys and girls reading this know who we're singing about."

 

You are currently working on your debut album. What can fans expect from this?

 

"It's done - in the can. Eager to get it out! They can expect ten bombastic songs that are the perfect introduction to our sound. It's a great record with each song being very strong. Everyone will love it - we're convinced!"

 

Dan Hawkins (of The Darkness) is helping out in the producer chair. What is he bringing to the record?

 

"Dan brought a love of curry, cigarettes and disgusting pints of Red Stripe to the table. That and a great ear for hooks. We learnt a lot working with him and Nick Brine - there's a reason why these guys are so in demand. Incredible ears that really helped us get down on tape what the songs sounded like in our heads. They also taught us that it's work and there's a budget so don't mess around. Great experience and even better advice."

 

Do you have any 'rituals' before you go on stage?

 

"We slag each other, listen to Bon Jovi 'Dry County 93 from Milton Keynes' and eat sushi. We love sushi."

 

Any live dates coming up?

 

"There will be - we shall keep you posted on the facebook page!"

 

Any new songs in the pipeline?

 

"Yes. Lots. One we're really proud of is called 'Judas"' - it's killer. Can't say anymore."

 

When can fans expect the next official release?

 

"Things are being ironed out contractually right now so we have no official word - as soon as we do we'll let you guys know."

Who would be your dream collaboration?

 

"Would love to work with Mutt Lange. He's immense - love his work. That aside, it's a great question...hadn't thought about it...would love to write songs for lots of artists...Michael Jackson...would have loved to have written a song for him. Maybe in the next life!"

 

Who would be in your dream super group?

 

"Great question...okay....drums - Nicko McBrain, bass - Steve Harris, guitar - Stevie Sambora and Adrian Smith, keys - David Bryan and Jonathan Cain and vocals - Steve Perry and Freddie."

 

PART 2 - "THE QUICKFIRE ROUND"

 

Favourite Beatle?

 

"John."

 

 Favourite band?

 

"The Beatles."

 

Favourite new band?

 

"Steel Panther."

 

Favourite song?

 

"I'll Make Love To You, Boyz II Men."

 

Favourite album?

 

"Bad, Michael Jackson."

 

Vinyl, CD or download?

 

"Vinyl and CD."

 

Style icon?

 

"Michael Jackson or Wham."

 

Favourite clothing brand?

 

"Don't look at labels!"

 

Favourite film?

 

"Spinal Tap, Anvil and Peter Pan."

 

Favourite TV show?

 

"Tony Soprano is the man!"

 

Who would play you in a film of your life?

 

"Stevie would be played by Kris Commons who's a footballer, Andy would be played by either Joey from Friends or the guy who did the voiceover for Pumba in the Lion King and I'd be played by Pippa Middleton in drag."

 

Favourite food?

 

"Bhuna lamb with nan. Love a good curry!"

 

Football team?

 

"Yuck! Hate soccer!"

 

Hope you enjoyed this feature on The Toi! Check out our previous feature on Mama Blue & Son!

 

Check out The Toi here - https://www.facebook.com/TheToiOfficial

 

You can also like our Facebook page to keep up to date with all future interviews at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords

 

AB RECORDS

BLAME IT ON REBECCA: The fiftieth artist to appear on the blog is Thomas McConnell - check out this interview with him!

 

PART 1 - "THE INTERVIEW"

1 - What was your first musical memory and what pushed you towards pursuing a career in the record industry?

 

"My first musical memory is hearing "Hello Goodbye" in the car when I was very, very little - that's the first song I remember. I also used to "dance" (sway back and forth) to people talking on the telly. I don't think anything pushed me towards it to be honest, I just knew that was what I was going to do in some shape or form."

 

2 - Had you been involved with any other bands prior to becoming a solo artist as Thomas McConnell?

 

"I've played music with people in their houses but never really anything properly. I did the odd open-mic and one gig in a band called The Railways, and I used to play guitar with my mate Joe in school, but I've mostly grown up doing it on my own."

 

3 - Why did you choose to become a solo artist instead of forming a band?

 

"I learnt how to do music on my own really from quite a young age but I always intended to get a band. I was in one for a very short while but that experience made me realise and remember that I'd been teaching myself what to do for six years previously. I also like doing all the instruments and found myself getting frustrated in a band when I couldn't play them all."

 

4 - How would you describe the sound of Thomas McConnell?

 

"Heavily Beatles-inspired pop/rock merged with other influences, all with my twist on it."

 

5 - Ian McNabb has already hailed you his new 'favourite act' and Paul McCartney himself has shared one of your videos online. How did it feel to get such a compliment from a well established artist and to have the support of a Beatle?

 

"Fantastic, Ian's been a great supporter of my music which has been great. Especially when you consider what he knows and what he's done, it's quite flattering to think he likes my stuff enough to have me gigging with him and record with him. The Paul tweet was a dream come true as he's been my hero since I was about six years old. Paul McCartney is one of the only people in the world where it matters to me if they think I'm alright or not and he must think I'm alright or the tweet/facebook post wouldn't have happened. That's been such an unbelievable confidence boost for me."

 

  6 - You recently released your EP, 'Worried About Thomas McConnell'. Why did you choose this title?

 

"I like titles where it mentions the artist and something about them like "With The Beatles", "Beatles For Sale" and I'm a bit of a worrier..."

 

7 - How would you describe this EP and what influenced it?

 

"I think it's quite eclectic but all the songs fit together well. It's got bits of fifties, sixties and seventies influences all mixed in.  It still has Beatle roots but David Bowie informed quite a lot of the work on it too, even if it doesn't necessarily sound like it. "Blame It On Rebecca" has got a Gene Vincent feel until the 70's synth comes in at the end like an air-raid siren - that's one of my favourite bits from the EP. "Penelope Definitely" is quite heavily arranged/orchestrated 60's pop and "Just A Little Bit, Jill" is probably the most Beatley track with the bouncy Macca pianos and faux mouthed-trumpets."

 

8 - One of the songs on the EP is 'John'. What influenced this song and what is the song itself about?

 

"That song is a tribute to my dad, granddad and to a lesser extent, John Lennon, but he is still someone who's very important to me. It's sort of psychedelic Plastic Ono Band and one of my most bare songs."

 

9 - Do you have any 'rituals' before going on stage?

 

"Not really but I usually go through a minute of feeling a little bit nervous then the next minute I'm just telling myself, "What's really the worst that could happen?" and then I'm usually fine. I don't really get stage fright in the first place though."

 

10 - Any live dates coming up?

 

"I have a tour coming up at the end of this year that goes around the whole UK. Some dates supporting Ian McNabb but the majority are supporting a great Brighton-based band called The Vinyls."

 

11 - Any new songs in the pipeline?

 

"There's always things I'm working on yeah, I revisit and update old songs a lot too. I've been writing quite a bit recently and have put a few of the results up on soundcloud ("Hello!" and "To Your Right") so more may follow."

 

12 - When can fans be expecting the next release?

 

"I don't really know yet. I'm planning to do a few more music videos so I imagine those will be the next things to happen. More tunes will definitely be coming out at some point, hopefully in the not-too-distant future."

 

13 - Who would be your dream collaboration?

 

"Paul McCartney."

 

14 - Who would be in your dream super group?

 

"The Beatles with David Bowie, The Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Oasis: THE BEAROLLWIESTEENSIS."

 

PART 2 - "THE QUICKFIRE ROUND"

 

1 - Favourite Beatle?

 

"Paul."

 

2 - Favourite band?

 

"The Beatles."

 

3 - Favourite new band?

 

"Tame Impala."

 

4 - Favourite song?

 

"Any Beatles song."

 

5 - Favourite album?

 

"Any Beatles album."

 

6 - Vinyl, CD or download?

 

"I'd like to say vinyl but I get more CD's than anything."

 

7 - Style icon?

 

"The Beatles."

 

8 - Favourite clothing brand?

 

"Don't know or use any brands...eBay and charity shops."

 

9 - Favourite film?

 

"Any of the Toy Stories..."

 

10 - Favourite TV show?

 

"Vic Reeves Big Night Out or The Office."

 

11 - Who would play you in a film of your life?

 

"Ian McNabb... but some people say I look like Paul Dano from Little Miss Sunshine."

 

12 - Favourite food?

 

"French onion soup."

 

13 - Football team?

 

"What's football."

 

Hope you enjoyed this feature on Thomas McConnell! Check out our previous feature on Jack Souter!

 

Check out Thomas McConnell here - https://www.facebook.com/thomasmcconnellmusic

 

Thomas will be playing the following dates:

Nov 27 - Newcastle - The Star & Shadow Theatre

Nov 28 - Stockton - The Georgian Theatre

Dec 3 - Glasgow - Nice n Sleazy

Dec 4 - Edinburgh - Sneaky Petes

Dec 5 - Newcastle - The Dog & Parrot

Dec 6 - Manchester - Dulcimer

Dec 7 - Liverpool  - Bumper

Dec 8 - Leicester - The Shed

Dec 9 - Swindon - The Vic

Dec 10 - Exeter - The Cavern

Dec 11 - Southampton - Lennons

Dec 12 - Birmingham - Actress & Bishop

Dec 14 - London - The Hope & Anchor

 

You can also like our Facebook page to keep up to date with all future interviews at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords

 

AB Records

TAKE IT EASY: Jack from Mamas Lips has a chat to us about their debut EP, their new single to be released in October and much, much more!

 

THE 'INTERVIEW'

 

1 - Had you been involved with/been in any bands prior to Mamas Lips?

 

Yeah, the four of us have been in bands together before Mamas Lips and a couple of other projects separately.

 

2 - How did Mamas Lips begin?

 

We were all in a band together and when one member left we decided to change the name and write a whole new set worth of songs.

 

3 - Where did the name Mamas Lips come from?

 

It was a name we threw around when a couple of us were in college but we didn't end up using it and we thought it fitted with our music fairly well.

 

4 - How would you describe the sound of Mamas Lips?

 

It's a healthy mix of old school blues/R&B with a little bit of soul and country too. Heavily Americana influenced but a little heavier than that.

 

5 - Your debut EP is called 'Take It Easy'. Why?

 

We decided that the opening track was the one we wanted to lead with so it felt right to name the debut EP after the leading track.

 

6 - On your debut EP you achieve a very bluesy sound. Was this always the direction you wanted to go with the band and what is it about the blues that has drawn you towards this sound?

 

Yeah we wanted the rawness/edge of a live blues band to come across in the recordings. It was very scrappy, mostly 1-2 takes of each instrument. We didn't want to overproduce the sound and not be able to pull it off when we played live, most importantly.

 

7 - Who would be your dream collaboration?

 

We're all big fans of sixties soul music so to work with anyone who was in/around that scene at that time would be a privilege.

 

8 - Any new songs in the pipeline?

 

We never really stop so I'm sure there will be some new ones in the live set before too long.

 

9 - Any new singles or EP's that fans can be expecting?

 

We will be releasing our new single, 'Preacher Lover', on October 11th at the Cellar in Southampton. We had the pleasure of recording it at Abbey Road Studios so we're looking forward to showing people the results.

 

10 - Any live dates coming up?

 

The aforementioned on October 11th is our next big local show for the next couple of months, so we're really going to throw ourselves into that. 

 

THE 'QUICK FIRE ROUND'

 

1 - Favourite band?

 

Kings Of Leon.

 

2 - Favourite new band?

Catfish And The Bottlemen are good. Not normally my sort of thing but I caught them live a couple of times and they're fantastic.

 

3 - Favourite song?

It changes every week but at the moment probably 'Young Americans' by David Bowie.

 

4 - Favourite album?

'Moondance' by Van Morrison.

 

5 - Vinyl, CD or download?

 

I like vinyl but it depends what the kind of music is. Old blues and soul is best for vinyl but if you were listening to something much more modern then it doesn't have the same authenticity, in my opinion.

 

6 - Style icon?

 

I don't really have one. Being perfectly honest.

 

7 - Favourite clothing brand?

 

I'm not really big into fashion so couldn't say.

 

8 - Favourite film?

 

Reservoir Dogs.

 

9 - Favourite TV show?

 

The Sopranos/Breaking Bad.

 

10 - Who would you like to play you in a film of your life?

Jack Black as everyone so graciously compares me to him!

 

11 - Favourite food?

Mexican all the way.

 

12 - Football team?

 

For me, Liverpool FC...only speaking for myself though!

 

 

Hope you enjoyed this feature on Mamas Lips! Check out our previous feature on The Harrington Blues!

 

Mama's Lips new single 'Preacher Lover' will be out on October 11th, for now you can here 'Take It Easy' here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oPVFWarF4Y

 

You can also like our Facebook page to keep up to date with all future interviews at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabrittonrecords

 

AB Records