The Holloways play the LCH, get tickets here. Not yet sold out, [ebay=holloways tickets]no need for ebay[/ebay] (yet). Support from local acts Underground Heroes and Seven Storey Down, full press release to follow.
More dates nationally, at cosier venues than we get here, guess Folkestone doesn't have many places for bands to play:
Thu 30/10/08 Oxford Zodiac Find Tickets
Fri 31/10/08 Sheffield Leadmill Find Tickets
Sat 01/11/08 University of London Union
Mon 10/11/08 Southampton Joiners Arms Find Tickets
Fri 28/11/08 Leas Cliff Hall Find Tickets
Tue 02/12/08 Wolverhampton Civic Hall Find Tickets
[ticket]The Holloways[/ticket]
Press release, as promised:
Built on a passion for music and a unique ambition, Hevy aspires to deliver live music events that showcase the greatest upcoming bands from Kent and across the UK. Founders James Dutton and Claire Baker (both 21 and from Canterbury) celebrate the company's first birthday this November by bringing The Holloways to the Leas Cliff Hall for a one-off event, with support from two of Kent's greatest upcomings bands: Underground Heroes and Seven Story Down.
Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
Friday 28th November 2008
Doors 7:00pm
Tickets 14.50
Box Office 0844 847 1776
THE HOLLOWAYS - Headlining
Even the dustiest and most-dated of indie dancefloors rocked with the trigger finger twangs of 'Generator', 'Dance Floor' and 'Two Left Feet' in 2007. Their prayers to your feet made sure that The Holloways were one of the year's main attractions, and now they're back with a new EP, 'Sinners & Winners'.
The Holloways first album 'So this is Great Britain?' garnered them a great deal of attention for their perfectly taut guitar-jangling ditties. Fans flocked to sold-out shows up and down the country. Festival favourites, this year saw them hit Get Loaded in the Park and Glastonbury with their gleeful stage performance. So for the infamous second album, the boys trundled off to the famous Sawmills Studio (the birthplace of classic albums from Supergrass, Muse and Oasis). And then suddenly it all stopped. Their record label TVT had gone bust. Yet the boys knew what they had to do and pulled out all the stops to complete their songs with imaginary money, plus found a new label. Finally, here we are with a finished EP, and a slew of promising tracks in the form of the album 'Tales From the Tarmac' to follow early next year,
"It was a real struggle when TVT went under," nods vocalist Alfie Jackson. "We weren't expecting it at all, but I think you have to adapt to what gets thrown at you, and it meant that we were all so personally entailed in what we had to do to get our tracks out. Our fans have been incredible."
Joyous, sentimental, yet bafflingly easy, The Holloways new tunes bring a sensibility of the strong melodies that have laid the tracks before them. Suddenly one of Agness Deyn's favourite bands are looking sharp and fresh, something confirmed by the EP. There's no questioning the band's identity with 'Sinners & Winners'; the band's radio-destined familiar harmonies and flippant lyrics puncture your ear. 'PSB's optimistic fiddle-riddled quirk lightens your day while the staggeringly beautiful choral combination of 'Forever' is a tranquil finale.
Live, the boys are a boisterous affair. The combined energy of Alfie Jackson (vocals / guitar / harmonica), Rob Skipper (vocals, guitar, fiddle), Bryn Fowler (bass/vocals) and Dave Danger (drums) is why the boys' create such an atmosphere of an Irish knees-up in the dingy gig venues of Britain. The only way to find out is to catch them yourself.
UNDERGROUND HEROES
Influenced by their heroes The Specials, The Jam and The Clash, they are the sound of booze-sodden, fag smoking, cheap drug taking, concrete Britain. Lyrically they are inspired by the day to day life they know - the fights, night life, friends, birds - and the identikit town they live in.
Otherwise known as brothers Aaron(19) and Joe Dollimore(17), George Penfold(21) and Jak Miller(19), Underground Heroes are the product of two rival local bands. Aaron and George met on the Kent circuit in early 2005 and hit it off immediately. They started writing together, working round George's shifts in the studio engineering for drum n' bass producers and Aaron's day job fitting double-glazing. Shortly afterward they were joined by Joe on the drums and Jak on the bass, and by 7/7 they'd christened their newly formed band. It was watching the footage on TV of paramedics and fire fighters rescuing victims of the terrorist attack on the London Underground while listening to The Libertines song 'Time for Heroes', that inspired their name.
After rehearsing for several months in the Dollimore's basement Underground Heroes played their first gig at the well respected local venue "The Beacon Court". It went well. They were invited back the following week to perform at a 'battle of the bands' competition, which they duly went on to win. More local gigs in and around the Medway towns followed including the legendary "Tap n Tin" where the likes of The Libertines, Gallows and The Charlatans have all performed.
By the summer of 2006 the Underground Heroes branched out from Kent, supporting The View on a toilet tour in Scotland, playing the smaller summer UK festivals and doing their first international gig - Ibiza Rocks Festival. By November the band got together their own tour, playing club NME'S up and down the country.
To date they've released two limited edition singles. James Endeacott's label 1965 Records, released the bands first outing on wax, the ska tinged "Stella The Mistress" and the follow up, 'Alright Darlin'?', a slice of spiky power pop punk produced by Paul Epworth, was released on Loog Records last August. Both singles sold out within a few weeks and garnered support from the likes of NME, XFM, Zane Lowe, Colin Murray and John Kennedy.
Since then the boys have shared stages with the likes of The View, Kasabian, Towers of London, Little Man Tate, The Cribs, The Metros, The Holloways, Kate Nash and Lily Allen, as well as playing Glastonbury in 2007 and 2008.
2008 had become the year Underground Heroes become overground heroes. They've begun work on their debut album, due for release later this year.
SEVEN STORY DOWN
One of the leading lights in the Kent Indie scene, Seven Story Down are a four piece Kent who play an exciting brand of alternative pop. Their self-released debut single 'Radio Song' reached 23 in the UK indie charts in July of 2006, helped significantly by an extensive touring schedule and plays by Radio One Djs, Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq.
The band are now consolidating ideas for their debut album and are looking to further push themselves as songwriters and develop new and exciting music for 2009.
This is part of my site The 'Gerald that I built in a fury of excitement when I first came to Folkestone in approximately '04. I'd been a regular visitor for a few years before that so I am technically one of those Down From Londons you get now. The site used to be a lot more dynamic with a gig calendar and voting for best venues and things, and I know it was a handy resource for others who were thinking of moving to the area. Now I've moved out of Folkestone again (though only a couple of miles) it doesn't get as much attention as it used to. Ironic really as The town is becoming the exciting place we always thought it was about to become. I am not Gerald BTW, this comes from the name of a fake paper in an episode of Brasseye or something, the Portsmouth Gerald, and how there is a local paper here called the Folkestone Herald. Puns like this are GRATE aren't they? Do contact me if you have anything to offer, email anythign @ this domain, or try @folkestone or @pauly on the twitter.