Female rockers The Franklys release new single ahead of UK Tour with Airbourne

UK-based rockers the Franklys have released a new single called 'Castaway' as they embark on a tour, and you can listen to it below.
 
Taken from the band's upcoming debut album the Blondie-feeling song is a favourite here at KBPS.

The band said: "“We have finally managed to transfer how we sound live on to a record. We have worked with plenty of different engineers and producers in the past, but no one has really been able to capture the rawness from our live show.”

Live dates are below, and you can find out more about the band on Facebook.

Mon  - 21st Nov - Birmingham - O2 Institute w/ Airbourne & Crobot

Tue - 22nd Nov - Leeds - O2 Academy w/ Airbourne & Crobot

Wed - 23rd Nov - Newcastle - O2 Academy w/ Airbourne & Crobot       

Thur - 24th Nov - Glasgow - Barrowlands  w/ Airbourne & Crobot

Fri - 26th Nov - Manchester - O2 Ritz  w/ Airbourne & Crobot

Sat - 3rd Dec - London - The Crowndale w/ Puppets of the Supreme Commander 

Singer-Songwriter Sian Cross Releases Song To Mark National Anti-Bulling Week

Singer-songwriter Sian Cross is set to release a brand new single, Stare At Me, to honour National Anti-Bullying week.

The release will see 50% of the sales going towards the cause, and you can see Sian live across the country over November. The song is also appearing on the playlist of Top Man and Top Shop this month.

Sian said: "The track is based on having conscious knowledge and acceptance of one's own individually - being separate from our environment and other individuals."

We will publish more details when the release date is announced, but you can preview the song below on Souncloud.

November Tour Dates

12th - Falmouth Pavilion - Falmouth (supporting Son Of Pitches)

14th - St Albans Arena - St Albans (supporting Sons Of Pitches)

21st - Cadogan Hall - London (supporting Sons Of Pitches)

23rd - The Rowbarge - Guildford (supporting Mishka Shubaly)

25th - Gullivers - Manchester  (supporting Mishka Shubaly)

26th - Slaughtered Lamb - London (supporting Mishka Shubaly)

27th - Robin 2 - Wolverhampton (supporting China Crisis) 

Find out more about Sian Cross on Facebook.

KBPS Interview: Idle Frets

Idle Frets are a four-piece band from Liverpool whose new single ‘Glow’ is out on 9^th December. We spoke to Ben from the band about their new song, first asking him to describe the record.

“It’s more of an upbeat than what we usually do, with much more guitar work going on. It’s definitely one for the live performance; it goes down well in a live environment we think.”

What was behind your change in sound?

I think when we play the live shows there are a few tunes that we keep dropping in that are obviously not recorded yet, and I think they go down a bit better when they’re livelier and there’s more going on with the audience. It’s not necessarily a change in direction but it’s a bit more like what we enjoy live, and getting that down and recorded.

Do you find it’s better when you play live that it can be closer to the studio version?

Yes, massively. Especially with the older tracks and trying to reproduce them live. We just like to go for it!

What was the inspiration behind the song lyrically?

It’s a bit like most of our songs, usually a bit of a rant about a girl. The song was about a bit of a frustrating situation, basically talking to a girl and she was coming out of a relationship which she was upset about. It was trying to deal with that without looking like you’re trying to jump into his grave. That’s the scope of the song I suppose, but people should read more into the song themselves rather than me being too specific!

Do you have any plans for a video?

We’re meant to be recording a video soon for it; there are a few ideas knocking around for it. We’re hoping to get that done soon as it gets the track out more.

You’re based in Liverpool; what’s that like creative wise to work in?

Liverpool is great. We love it. Most of us originally are from Chester, and there’s not much of a music scene there, so it’s nice to be somewhere where there’s something going on every night. There are always so many creative people around us, it’s a good environment, and great to be part of.

You have live dates coming up; how would you describe your live sound?

Our live sound is pretty much about everyone having a life. We play songs we love to play and hopefully people who come down to listen love them. It’s high intensity for people to have a bit of a dance!

Following ‘Glow’ do you have any EP or album plans?

We have got a few tracks that we’ve recorded that aren’t out yet. ‘Glow’ is the first one. There’s going to be a new single out soon and hopefully that’ll compile into an EP. We’re looking at that for the new year. We’ve definitely got more songs planned and we’re really excited!

Do you have any big ambitions for 2017?

We just loving playing live, and playing where we can, and to get as many gigs as we can up and down the country, and maybe even outside the country, maybe a couple of European dates!

Would there be a particular country you’d love to perform in?

There’s quite a good scene in Germany or France, so it would be good to get there. It would also be a good holiday too!

With Christmas around the corner, would you ever write a Christmas song, or do you have a go-to X-mas track?

I don’t think we’ve got the patience to write a Christmas song! I think a few bands have tried to do it recently and it’s just plummeted. I’m not going to say I don’t think we’d ever like to write a Christmas song. [In terms of songs] there’s the Slade one, any guitar-based Christmas song really.

Planet earth 2 is the bomb! No snake was catching that Iguana... On another note, I want a sloth X
— Idle Frets (@Idle_Frets) November 7, 2016

And recently on Twitter you said, having watched Planet Earth II, you fancied getting a sloth. How’s that going?

Apparently I’m not allowed one as it’s illegal! I thought if we tour in the right country I might be able to ask them for a sloth! It was great [the show]. David Attenborough is a hero.

Could the sloth be a new member of the band?

100%. We’re pretty much all like sloths anyway so it would fit right in!

For more information on Idle Frets, find them on Facebook.

KBPS Interview: This Party

Matt MacNeill, Hal Cleverdon, Marcus Gilham and Tom Hodgson make up Brighton band ‘This Party’ whose new single, ‘Money’, is released on the 14^th November ahead of two gigs. We caught up with Matt about the song and asked him to give us a flavour of the piece.

“I would describe it as an anecdote of a date gone wrong! It was based on quite a lot of people I know who have been on dates with people where the conversation always went one way, and it ended up being the most important thing about that relationship over anything else,” he told us, referring to the topic that makes up the single’s title.

“Often the best songs I write are personal. That one was essentially about talking to someone who’s most interested in how much money you earn or how far you are on a career path rather than anything else. So it was a mixture of personal and accounts from people who’d been on Tinder dates and things like that, and who had just met people who had asked ‘what do you do for a living?’ and ‘how much do you earn?’ which is where I got my inspiration from.”

You can now watch the video online; what was it like filming that?

It was good fun. We got into the room with the director and there was a bit of a discussion about how they were going to make the money thing look real. It was a case of saying we couldn’t do it with fake money so it had to be the real thing. Somebody had the crazy idea of going to the bank and taking out two grand of cash! I sat there and thought about getting out a couple of hundred quid which would be alright but the director thought that wouldn’t look the way you think it’s going to look on camera. We filmed it in a cellar in a pub as we wanted to get it really dark and gloomy, almost sleazy!

Was there someone off camera worrying about losing the money?

There was, but don’t worry! It was all accounted for!

The single has been released on your own record label. Has that helped give you musical freedom?

I’ve been playing music for a few years now and I’ve found that these days so much is disposable that you can make a really good job if you just do it yourself, you don’t need to rely on other people. I think we felt ready to do this record and ready to do it on our own label. It might not suit everyone else but for us it felt like the right thing to do.

What are your next plans musically?

We’d like to get to the point of doing an album but at the moment it’s just doing singles. We want to do it the Tamla Motown way, and just focus on the singles. But we would like to do an album in the next couple of years or so.

You also have live dates coming up. How would you describe your live sound?

I’ve been told it’s a little like Ian Curtis and Jarvis Cocker. It’s a lot of unusual dancing! I’ve been accused of a lot of unusual dancing. Other than that, very energetic and catchy. It’s always a good show.

Do you usually get the crowd joining you in your unusual dancing?

Yeah usually! It depends on where we go.

You are Brighton based. What’s that like to be a musician in?

I think it’s really good creatively. It’s such a musical place, and bands almost flock here to meet other musicians. Though whilst that’s good in meeting people it does mean it’s very competitive here, and very hard to get noticed here alone, so it really makes you up your game!

Do you have any big ambitions for 2017?

I don’t know about 2017, but in 2018 I’d like to work towards a number one album. That will be my target!

With Christmas round the corner, would you ever do a Christmas single, or what is your Christmas song of choice?

I was asked to do one live on a radio show, right there and then, and we did a year ago. If I had to pick a favourite, it has to be Slade, as I grew up a diet of glam rock from my parents! 

Click here to find out more about This Party.

Cannibal Animal - Human Manuals (EP)

Hull band ‘Cannibal Animal’ land with their new five-track gritty, punky and raw EP ‘Human Manuals’ which claws and churns its way through a quintet of similary sounding raw and crunchy punk numbers such as ‘Pincushion Parade’ that moves from Nirvana-like tranquillity to fast-paced shouty lyrics and guitars and the darker and faster ‘I Feel Alive’ which is the best on the record. ‘Grand Theft Manual’ slows things down a little to better effect whilst ‘Fall Down’ and ‘Cracked’ add little to the established formula outside of a much speedier vibe on the latter.

Unpolished but well put together, this is a solid release for fans of punk but it lacks any real stand-out moments that stop it from sounding just like one long track rather than five individual pieces. (4/10)

Robbie Williams – The Heavy Entertainment Show

Robbie is back with his eighth studio album, the cheekily titled ‘The Heavy Entertainment Show, a cross between a reference to his live on-stage persona and a throwback to his fan-released b-side from last year. His latest LP sees Williams once more in fine form, bringing together a solid collection of eleven pop numbers that are some of his best material on an album. With a list of producers and writers as long as your arm, ‘The Heavy Entertainment Show’ is certainly a collaborative effort – Gary Go, Stuart Price and Ed Sheeran are among those name-checked – and this probably has helped in making it a much stronger clutch of tracks.

The LP kicks off with the titular track, a catchy and well assembled opening track that really gets you in the mood for what is to come, building from a simple piano riff to an over-the-top statement of intent, packed with witty, quotable, lyrics, self-deprecation and a great mix of lead and backing vocals. With tempo and style shifts it occasionally feels like it’s a little all over the place but as a tongue-in-cheek package it’s a great opener.

The album’s lead single follows, the bombastic ‘Party Like A Russian’ that builds on a sped-up sample of Sergei Prokofiev’s famous classical piece (The Apprentice anyone?) to create a light satire on modern oligarchs combined with a chorus that packs a punch, possibly with the rhyming dictionary that Williams was using when writing it. At just a smidgen over three minutes it’s quite short for a lead cut but there’s plenty in the mix and the bouncy tempo, hooky lyrics and effects really make it, and it’s certainly an earworm. Ridiculous but catchy, it’s up there with Williams at his best.

‘Mixed Signals’, a track written by the Killers, certainly feels like it’s been taken from their ‘Day and Age’ era and this mid-tempo ballad bursts into a louder chorus that buzzes with plenty of energy. I’m not sure what’s best about the track; the power, or the Wikipedia page that suggested Eastenders’ actor Steve McFadden also co-wrote it.

Track four and second single ‘Love My Life’ is the spiritual successor to early swing single ‘Go Gentle’, imagining what future life will be like for Williams’ daughters. Though the chorus wouldn’t look out of place on one of those annoying memes that your older relatives send around Facebook its heart is in its right place and it feels like an uplifting, singable ballad about achieving in life, and fits in with Robbie’s back catalogue of stirring ballads.

Into the fresher material we get the radio friendly (*cough*) ‘Motherfucker’, that is Robbie on more comedic form, following up a song aimed at his children that’s less appropriate, summing up his family as a collection of interesting characters. The verses are so-so but the cheeky chorus is pretty funny and cool, and though the track is certainly irrelevant it’s still a fun and sparky listen.

Though sounding like the offspring of Adam and the Ant’s ‘Prince Charming’ and ELO’s ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, ‘Bruce Lee’ is perhaps the weakest of the tracks on the album. It’s loud and brash, perhaps a little too much, and lacks a focus and direction to really stand up next to the great opening quintet, but it’s not a complete right off.

With its interpolation of ‘H-A-P-P-Y’ ‘Sensitive’ harks back to the ‘Lovelight’-era of Robbie and is a foot-tapping electro-number that channels the better moments of the Rudebox album, though the fade out feels like the song runs out of steam a bit too soon.

‘David’s Song’, is the album’s contribution to a slower number and soars and falls in the right places, and ticks all the boxes for the style of song, and is likely to be a grower, but as it bursts into a guitar solo you can’t help feel it’s trying too hard to sound like ‘Angels’.

‘Pretty Woman’ is the shortest track on the album but has a foot-stomping drum and hand-clap backing and tied up with some catchy and funky lyrics makes this a great little number, that feels like the cousin of Will Smith’s ‘Switch’. Ed Sheeran’s influence certainly can be felt here and though the lyrics are perhaps a little too twee it’s all wrapped in such a catchy way many of the questionable lyrics can be forgiven. This feels like the best contender for single #3 in my opinion.

Rufus Wainwright makes another appearance after his debut on Robbie’s recent swing sequel, here on the similarly feeling ‘Hotel Crazy’ with the mid-tempo swing-swagger in place. It’s not my favourite song on the album but it has enough guts to hold your attention but as the longest track on the main album it feels overly indulgent.

Closing up the forty-minute album is the live-feeling ‘Sensational’ which wraps up with similar key notes to the opening, tying it up as if it was, indeed, a heavy entertainment show, and it’s a spunky way of closing, that bookends things well. It’s a better statement than it is a track but its place as the closer works well, with the production making it sound bigger and it’s a rising, stirring end to the main LP.

For those of you who have plumped for the deluxe edition get an impressive five bonus tracks coming in at an impressive extra twenty-one minutes. ‘When You Know’ builds a mid-tempo song over a drum machine and a timpani and is nice enough, but a little too middle-of-the-road and feels more like a bonus track. ‘Time on Earth’ fits in with the show-theme of the album whilst ‘I Don’t Want to Hurt You’ feels like a modern riff on classic song ‘No Regrets’, and is the best of the five bonus tracks thanks to its vocals, piano riff and bombastic, western-style theme, and is the only one that feels like it should have appeared on the main piece. ‘Best Intentions’ is a runner-up as the best track on the bonus piece, with some strong lyrics and a fun enough feel, with the lyrics quite personal, talking about the evolution of Robbie as a person. Closer ‘Marry Me’ is an emotive ballad that ties things up nicely at the end.

‘The Heavy Entertainment Show’ is certainly one of Robbie’s best albums and the mixture of collaborators make it feel fresh, whilst feeling quite consistent. There are a few skippable tracks on the piece but nothing I’d class as filler, and there are many tracks on it up with his best. A must buy. (8/10)

KBPS Interview: The Saw Doctors

Leo Moran is a member of Irish folk-rock band The Saw Doctors who are returning to England this autumn as part of their tour including Leeds at the 02 Academy on 2^nd December. Famous for hits such as ‘I Useta Lover’ and ‘Hay Wrap’ we spoke to Moran ahead of their live date to talk about their live shows, upcoming music and more!

What can people expect from your live show?

We have a couple of new band members and a couple of new musical elements. We have a new bass player – Will Merrigan – and he’s a very good singer as well, and a new keyboard player – Kieran Duddy. This means that our bass player we had Anthony Thistlethwaite is able to go over and play all the things he’s able to play, like saxophone and the mandolin and the harmonica. So we have more singing and more instruments, so we’re very much enjoying our new toys, and being able to re-arrange old songs and come up with some new ideas!

That must help to bring the songs alive on stage?

It gives us a lot of options and it’s a lot of fun re-arranging things. It’s something we’re going to work more on. And we’re hoping to have a section of the show that is more acoustic as well. Will also plays the double bass. We haven’t got round to including that yet but we hope to during the tour.

How has touring been going?

We did a lovely little run up in Scotland with the Highlands and islands – that was gorgeous! The band is sounding great and we’re very much enjoying it. It’s work in progress, but it should always be work in progress really, as you always want to have something to improve on or work on.

You’ve had a bit of a hiatus over the last few years. Is it good to be back on the road?

Absolutely! It’s wonderful being back, making a racket! We have done a few smaller gigs. I did a few tours with Anthony Thistlethwaite, and also did one in America. We learned a lot from breaking down the songs and doing them in different ways. It really is nice to be back and making the big noise with all the elements we have to play with!

Do you have any plans for new studio material?

We’re hoping to record a few days next week. We’d hoped to have an album together before we started playing again but we just didn’t put enough work into it, so we’ve taken off the spring time to work on an album, so hopefully we’ll have an album by summer or autumn next year and everything that goes with that.

For people that are not as familiar with your music, how would you describe the Saw Doctors?

They are simple rock songs with an Irish accent!

Lyrically you like to keep them locally themed; is that important to you?

It’s important that our songs are distinctive. What we’ve learnt over the years is that the songs that people like, by us, are the songs that they don’t get from anybody else. There’s a certain recognisable thing about that. It’s hard to define what it is but when we hit on what it is it seems to connect with people and have a resonance, so we always hope to write a song that’s distinctively us. If people want to hear great songs about other things there are millions of bands out there that are better at it than we are, but we’re good at what we do!

You’re also hoping to go over to the states next year?

Yes, we’d love to go over and do some festivals. We’re just interested in getting in front of anyone we can. We’re very fortunate with the wonderful job and lifestyle that we have that we get to travel to lots of different places that would never have been on our map if we didn’t have the music to take us there. We’re very fortunate and we’ll go anywhere where they’ll have us!

What was it like performing in Scotland?

We’ve been going up to Scotland for a long time and feel comfortable up there. The hospitality we get, especially the further you go up to the more remote places, where there’s a serious appreciation of your journey and your efforts to get up there. You can sense that from the people. It’s also a very beautiful place and it was amazing to do our first gig back in Tobermoray, which is a complete picture-postcard place.

You have the accolade for the bestselling single ever in Ireland; it must be great to hold that?

It happened of its own accord. The song came out and it had a life of its own and it was what gave us the impetus and the trampoline to jump high. It made us known in places we never could have been known otherwise, and it gave us a platform to work from, and it’s what we’ve been doing ever since. It was number one for nine weeks in 1990 and in the end we had to delete it as we wanted to sell some albums, and we were afraid people would just buy the single and not the album!

You also had success covering a Sugababes track too, which is unusual. What attracted you to the song ‘About You Now’?

It’s a really good song and we have a slot in the last song we play where we insert some song for a bit of fun – usually just a verse and a chorus. One of the ones we did as an insert was out version of ‘About You Now’, and you could see in the audience that it caught on like wildfire, kind of a novelty idea, an unexpected thing. It’s a great song, written by Cathy Dennis, who’s a bit of a genius pop writer. When we went to learn it and play it you realise how well it is written; it’s a fantastic pop song. But we weren’t really surprised. The place where we insert the song is a great litmus test into how the reaction of a song is. Sometimes a song can surprise you one way or another; it could be more popular than you think or vice-versa. We’ve actually had two hits from that, as we also had a hit with ‘Downtown’. That came about the same way, but then we had to stop doing cover releases as it was becoming a bit of a pattern, and we didn’t want to be known as a band having cover hits all of the time. The next one that would have been a hit, I believe, would have been ‘Daydream Believer’. We inserted that when Davey Jones died, and again you could see the audience just loved it. We had to kind of pull out at that stage!

You’ve shared a lot of your set-lists on social media; it must be a great to have such a large back catalogue of songs to pick from?

We’re up to about fifteen now but we’ve got to learn a good few year, but we’ve got plenty to keep us going and we’re looking forward to learning the rest of them!

Are there any contemporary songs you’ll be slotting into your live set or will you be leaving that as a surprise?

We tried ‘All About The Bass’ but that didn’t seem to work quite in the same way but we’ll keep searching and trying and amusing ourselves. It’s always good to have one thing to learn in the set. Sometimes it might get down to two or three, but as long as you have the one thing to think about it keeps you on your toes, and keeps everything fresh!

Finally have you got any big ambitions for 2017?

We don’t really want big ambitions. It’s just whatever happens, happens. I’ll be happy if we can keep playing, and playing in places we’ve never been before. I just like making sure the show is as good as possible and I hope when people come to see us they say it’s the best they’ve ever seen. That’s our job!

Find out more about the Saw Doctors on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/sawdoctors. Unfortunately the gig with the Saw Doctors has been delayed. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates.