By
Mary Chang on Saturday, 20th April 2013 at 10:00 am
The new promo video from Lower Than Atlantis is for ‘Something Better Came Along’, the third single from their major label debut album ‘Changing Tune’. If you’ve ever fancied rocking out in a carriage in the underground…well, just watch it below. Also below is a list of their headlining tour dates this month across the UK.
Sunday 14th April 2013 – Dublin Academy
Tuesday 16th April 2013 – Cardiff Solus
Wednesday 17th April 2013 – Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Thursday 18th April 2013 – Manchester Academy 2
Friday 19th April 2013 – Glasgow QMU
Saturday 20th April 2013 – Leeds Metropolitan University
Sunday 21st April 2013 – Yeovil Westland Leisure Complex
Tuesday 23rd April 2013 – Norwich Waterfront
Wednesday 24th April 2013 – Portsmouth Pyramids Centre
Thursday 25th April 2013 – London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
By
Mary Chang on Tuesday, 4th December 2012 at 9:00 am
Lower Than Atlantis have announced a new headlining tour of the UK and Ireland for next April. Tickets are on sale now. Below the tour dates is an embed of their festive video for their new holiday single ‘Merry Christmas (Wherever You Are)’ now available on iTunes.
Sunday 14th April 2013 – Dublin Academy
Tuesday 16th April 2013 – Cardiff Solus
Wednesday 17th April 2013 – Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Thursday 18th April 2013 – Manchester Academy 2
Friday 19th April 2013 – Glasgow QMU
Saturday 20th April 2013 – Leeds Metropolitan University
Sunday 21st April 2013 – Yeovil Westland Leisure Complex
Tuesday 23rd April 2013 – Norwich Waterfront
Wednesday 24th April 2013 – Portsmouth Pyramids Centre
Thursday 25th April 2013 – London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Just to confirm it, this band are not gay. They spent half of our interview stressing the fact that while they enjoy a good bit of male company, they are not in any way homosexuals. No, really, they aren’t. But were any of us thinking that?
No, when you saw Lower Than Atlantis in the title, you though that these fellas are one of the rising stars of 2012.
But still, they want me to tell you they’re NOT GAY. Members of the band Eddy Thrower and Dec Hart stressed this, while telling me where there musical influences lie and having a bit of a general bro down together.
Drummer Eddy, whose eloquence shone through, said, “you know that guy Conor Maynard, we get a lot of our influences from him. LOVE THAT GUY.” (Before he bursts into a rendition of ‘Can’t Say No’…) The band are just chilling at Reading when we caught up with them, trying to find their bearings. “I’ve never been here before, so it’s pretty cool just being on the site.”
On the other hand, the band’s bassist Dec Hart is a bit of a Reading vet: “I’ve been here loads of times before, so it’s cool to be on the other side of the fence.”
At Reading, their set goes down an absolute storm. Guitars roar above the seething mass of adolescents arrayed before the band. Eddy and Dec provide the engine room to a juggernaut of a performance. Afterwards, the crowd leave the stage, with only a few words on their tongues. Like “I might download them at home”. (And possibly that they aren’t gay.)
The plans for the future are shaping up well for the band and with as they begin to gain a huge fanbase, one has a feeling that what happens next could make or break this outfit. “The record’s going to come out in a few months, then there’s a headline tour. We’re gonna record a new video, have another tour and get ourselves on Radio 1 and then we’re gonna get loads of chicks not dicks.” (See, they aren’t gay.)
“We appreciate everyone who loves our band and who cares about our band, who buys our CDs, has bought a t-shirt or who’s going to come and see us play live.
“Anyone can do anything, just get a band together and you can play amazing festivals like this.”
Special thanks to Dec and Eddy for their time and Libby for sorting this interview.
For some reason, my phone refused to let me subscribe to the Great Escape text service, and without adequate O2 coverage, I hadn’t had a chance in hell to load the official festival app. In hindsight, either of these may have informed me that the entire Island Records showcase at the Loft featuring Lower Than Atlantis, King Charles (my main interest in this stage, after Tom’s hilarious phone interview with the man) and Tribes had been cancelled. But as I learned over this weekend, it pays to have a plan B. And a plan C and D if you can manage it.
The next closest venue with a band I wanted to see was the Haunt, with Pixie Geldof’s band Violet. During my entire time in Brighton I had nothing but good encounters with punters, except for at this venue. It was supposed to be Avalanche City onstage when I arrived at the venue but seeing that I couldn’t see nor hear very well what was happening up front, I gingerly made my way forward in an attempt to get closer to take at least one photo.
Having been inconvenienced with light shoving and pats on the back indicating someone wanted to go past me in a club for nearly all of my adult life, I was taken aback by one punter’s admittedly semi-drunk but all the same nasty complaint, “are you going to stand there all night?” If you were wondering, there were large spaces in front and back of him (he was standing by the bar) and I had hoped that standing in front of him would encourage him to move back a bit to allow me to get a decent line of sight. Fat chance. What’s even stupider was he left right after the band finished. As the saying goes, “it takes a lot more effort to be nasty than to be nice”, and after having one preferred showcase cancelled that night, I was feeling a bit grumpy and I didn’t need further aggravation.
As the sea of festival-goers parted, I made my way to the front to situate myself in a good position to photograph. Good thing I did this early: who knows if it’s because she’s Bob Geldof’s daughter or people actually wanted to see if she was any good, but I witnessed the largest assemblage of photographers seeing Violet, so much it felt more like a flurry of paparazzi with the continual bursts of flash than a meet-up of run of the mill gig photographers. Whatever happened to, “first three songs, no flash”? Even I observe those rules. Grumble. Thank goodness most of them left after the first three songs; you can tell who’s there for merely professional and not actual music-loving reasons because they bolt even before the third song in is finished.
I suppose I’ve benefited from not having grown up with gossip about Geldof’s daughters and their lives, so I went into this with no personal opinion of her and the knowledge that Luke had seen her at a Guardian New Band of the Day show in April and said she was pretty good. If you were wondering, the girl’s got chops and has a spectacular voice. She opened her set with the single ‘Y.O.U.’, a slow-burning, sultry number, but it’s songs like ‘What You Gave Me’ (video below) that exhibit the soulfulness of Pixie’s voice. Given time and more experience, I think she could become one of the most compelling voices of her generation.
She exudes the sexiness of Marilyn Monroe, yet dressing demurely in a white top and an iridescent long (and not short – shocking!) skirt, indicating respect to both the festival and her audience. Like many of the random revelers I’d see over my time in Brighton, she could have worn a skimpy clubber’s type outfit – one that would have been spread round the internet like wildfire – and yet she didn’t’. It’s a shame in this case that most people will probably not bother to listen to her, thinking that she must only be getting the limelight because of her family. And if you are one of those types, you’re doing yourself a grave disservice. Forget who her father is and follow the talent. Good on her.
One band that was on everyone’s lips all weekend was Niki and the Dove, who were scheduled to play at Horatio’s on Brighton Pier at a NME-sponsored showcase. (Note: they ended up cancelling their appearance at Liverpool Sound City due to illness, so I never got a chance to see them. Which is okay because I’m not really a fan of their sound based on the recordings I’ve heard.) Friends, an equally hot commodity but has always sounded to me too much like a Phenomenal Handclap Band imitator, were slated to perform before them. However, I’d been advised by long-time Great Escape gig-goers that if I planned to making the trip down the pier, I’d never get back up the hill in time for anything else. Seeing that it was still raining, and the wind had now picked up, the idea of standing on Brighton Pier, especially in a long delegates queue, wasn’t at all appealing. From debriefings from fellow bloggers, it sounds like I missed a great show. But you’ve got to make tough choices sometime…
Thanks to not being able to check my email, I completely missed the confirmation on Maximo Park press passes for their performance at the Dome, so I decided to switch gears again and head to Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar for New Look, followed by the guys I’d serendipitously seen earlier, Zulu Winter. New Look, not to be confused with the high street womens’ clothing shop, is a Toronto husband and wife team who make an engaging brand of electropop. In the currently crowded electronic market, they came up with their own genre, ‘futurepop’, which incorporates unashamed ‘80s synth stylings (can you say ‘keytar’?) with r&b and dubstep. Interestingly, I saw quite a few couples watching the couple onstage, dressed in matching outfits of white dress shirts and black trousers, grooving with their loved ones to the good beats. Verdict: while they sound pretty good, they risk being forgettable.
Zulu Winter followed shortly thereafter. I should probably mention here that Sticky Mike’s performance space is a basement with badly placed support poles and a low ceiling. Not only is it difficult to see if you’re standing in the wrong place, it’s quite claustrophobic and I can’t even imagine being down there if you’re very tall. The stage is also pretty small; Zulu Winter comprises five band members and keyboardist Dom and his many synths had to be placed off the stage because there wasn’t enough room for all of them. That said, if you’re up front like I was, there is no problem. I’m sure singer Will Daunt will never forget this performance, as a large Norwegian made his presence known by shouting, rather annoyingly I might add, for ‘Silver Tongue’ about 3 times between every song.
Considering they hadn’t even released their debut ‘Language’ yet (it was due to be out on PIAS the following Monday the 14th of May), they played a fun, energetic and well-received set that was not at all hampered by bassist Iain Lock’s foot injury, forcing him to get and off stage on crutches. What a trooper. Below is the opening song of their set, ‘Key to My Heart’. (If you’re wondering, the crazy Norwegian’s hooting can be heard at the end of the video.) Keep an eye on these guys; if the album does well, they could be the next big British indie pop band.
Part of the original plan was to see Mystery Jets at the Corn Exchange, so I trudged back up the hill with renewed purpose. When I inquired about the delegates queue, I was told sternly, “there’s only one line [for everyone, with wristbands or badges]. And it’s one in, one out.” I pressed further on why oh why there wasn’t a delegates queue, I was met with stony silence. I saw the queue going around the building and down the block past the Dome. Not getting in there then. I got into the queue for the Pavilion Theatre in an attempt to get in for Django Django and found myself directly in front of Mike Bradford of the Recommender (it’s amazing how many times you accidentally run into everyone at this festival!), who asked staff what the probability of us getting into the venue that night was. It wasn’t looking good. Instead of getting frustrated, Mike suggested we head down to Sticky Mike’s to round off our evening with some drinks, followed by a performance by White Arrows. If a fellow blogger recommends it, you can’t turn it down.
Oh, White Arrows. The lead guitarist looked stoned as he clicked his pair of claves together. I guess that’s okay, considering “the blackest ‘white’ band”, described by the Owl Mag as making a “psychostropical” sound, were throwing down very tropical yet electronic and funky beats. ‘Coming and Going’ is a good example as any of their jangly guitars paired with a danceable and powerful backbeat. Was it really past 1 AM? Didn’t feel like it.
2 AM is probably a good time for bed but somehow I found myself at the very crowded Queens Hotel lobby, surrounded by loud and pissed delegates from all over. Having not eaten anything solid since the afternoon, I also was the proud holder of a large cone of fish and chips procured from the boardwalk, Despite getting frosty looks from hotel security for having brought outside food in, I shared my fish with a very hungry CMU rep who was grateful for some food. That was my attempt to solidify American and English relations for the evening. I said goodbye to my new friends and tucked myself into bed at about, oh, 4 AM? 4 hours of sleep ahead of me? Eep. Well, it’s like Blaine Harrison says in the Mystery Jets song ‘Dreaming of Another World’: “sleep is for the dead”. Right?
