Alex Francis released his first single ‘The Last Time’ in early 2017 before embarking onto a successful tour of the UK and Europe supporting pop legend Melanie C. Alex also provided guest vocals on Melanie’s 2017 single ‘Hold On’.
Alex Francis will play on Wednesdat 25th September 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Alex’s EP ‘A Stronger Love’ caught the attention of Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones who invited Alex and his band to open their European tour in early 2018. Last summer Alex toured Europe with Sting and performed at major festivals all over the continent including MadCool in Madrid, Blue Balls in Switzerland and The Isle Of Wight Festival. He finished 2018 with his first shows in the US in New York at the Mercury Lounge and at the Capitol Theatre in Portchester.
Larkins have announced an extensive 17-date UK headline tour running through October and November 2019.
Larkins will play on Wednesday 6th November 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
The announcement comes ahead of Larkins largest London headline show to date, where they will play Dingwalls on June 19th. Tickets are available via TicketWeb.
This year has seen Larkins make a huge statement as one of the most exciting and in-demand bands to emerge from Manchester in recent times.
The guitar-pop collective released their debut single ‘TV Dream’ on Good Soldier Records to an immense response from both fans and media, quickly clocking up over a million streams. The song proved a radio hit and featured on the playlists of Radio 1, BBC Introducing and Radio X, while the band have also received support from Zane Lowe on Beats 1.
The release led the band to sell out a landmark hometown show to 2000 rapturous fans at Manchester’s Albert Hall. Capturing the moment perfectly, Larkins release the live album Larkins: Live At The Albert Hall, Manchester. It is available to stream now and can be purchased physically from July 5th on CD, cassette and vinyl.
As an undeniable proven live force Larkins have sold out headline shows across the UK and Europe, and played their first US shows this year at SXSW Festival. The band are currently recording their debut album with producers Dan Nigro (A-Trak, Sky Ferreira, Lewis Capaldi) and Andrew Dawson (Kanye West, Fun, Kid Cudi) – a record which is sure to send Larkins even further into the stratosphere.
“Manchester’s next arena act” – Manchester Evening News
“”Manchester guitar-poppers Larkins make massive tunes with huge choruses made for the indie dancefloor” – Dork Magazine
“Trust us – Manchester guitar-pop collective Larkins are fast on their way to becoming your next favourite band.” – Music Crowns
“Straight laced indie pop filled with anthemic choruses and heartfelt lyricisms” – The Line of Best Fit
Hailing from Birmingham, FLARES are an up and coming band with a sound rooted in indie rock with a twist of grunge and punk. Following a busy year of festivals, headliners and support slots for the likes of Fickle Friends, Rose Dive and FEET.
FLARES will play on Sunday 21st July 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
FLARES released their debut single, ‘Tunnel Vision // Castle of Cards’ on Jan 3rd 2019, with a sold-out launch show at the Hare And Hounds, Birmingham. Both tracks were received well and gained airtime on BBC Introducing, plus an interview on WM and almost 15k streams on Spotify.
They are now following up with their next single ‘Keep It’ which is out on the 25th May.
The band deliver an energetic performance by combining indie melodies, catchy choruses and strong vocal harmonies with heavy guitar riffs and powerhouse drumming.
‘They’ve somehow channelled the Pixies skewed pop, (bassist Edie like a young Kim Deal), welded it to Nirvana’s intensity, (Guitarist Leo channelling Cobain, hurling himself around like it’s life or death) and then added an infectious Pop charm all of their own.” – Louder Than War
“Don’t let their youthfulness deceive you. These young indie rockers know their way around harmony and a chord progression.” – Indie Midlands
“A true pleasure to witness.” – Native Magazine
“Their catchy, guitar-heavy tunes have the growing crowd clapping and swaying along in no time.” – Counteract
Hotly tipped as one of NME’s Essential Acts of 2018 and Dork’s ‘Top Tips’ for 2019, “Brighton dream-pop outfit Thyla released their debut EP ‘What’s On Your Mind’ to superb natural acclaim (Dork 5*, Best Fit 8/10)”.
Thyla will play on Tuesday 8th October 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Drawing comparisons to Wolf Alice and Cocteau Twins, the band are cementing their position as one of the UK’s most promising acts. After receiving an abundance of press worldwide (Stereogum, Pitchfork, Paste, DIY, The Line of Best Fit), Thyla have recently shared the stage with artists including Slaves, Sunflower Bean, Rolling Blackout CF and Dream Wife, as well as festival appearances at this years Live at Leeds, Hit The North and The Great Escape.
The band made there SXSW debut this year in Texas and were included in Paste magazines Top 7 bands at The British Embassy at SXSW, alongside Fontaines DC and Black Midi and Sports Team.
The band met whilst studying at university in Brighton, and the line up was fully formed in 2016 with their first official release ‘Ferris Wheels’ in early 2017. 2018 saw the band release consecutive smashes, including a release on LA indie B3SCI for the track “Blame”, produced by Alex Newport (Bloc Party, At The Drive-In, Estrons). With strong support at Radio 1 from Jack Saunders and Huw Stephens, and being featured on 6 Music on the Steve Lamacq show and Lauren Laverne’s 6 Music recommends, 2019 is looking to be a exciting year for the indie post punk outfit.
The forthcoming EP is scheduled for release in November 2019 with releases throughout the summer and autumn and is sure to be full of even bigger and more astute guitar lead anthems.
Formed just over three years ago in the seaside town that the band still call home, FUR might not have expected this sudden change of fortune, but their ambition and determination was there from the start.
FUR will play on Sunday 22nd September 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
In the modern world of streaming-dominated music consumption, there are a few standard ways that artists tend to rack up the numbers. They’re either signed to a major label, who have the leverage and cash to get them all up in people’s eye-lines; they’ve managed to nab a lucrative spot on a New Music Friday playlist, or they’ve made friends with Hugh Jackman and wound up on ‘The Greatest Showman’ soundtrack. Rare, however, is the track that climbs into seven-figure streams just by virtue of being very, very good. And even rarer still is the occasion when that happens to a virtually unknown indie band.
‘If You Know That I’m Lonely’, the jangling, sepia-tinged and ’60s-inflected bop released by Brighton quartet FUR last autumn, however, is currently sitting at over 3.6 million Youtube views.
It’s had no car commercial sync deals and no Ed Sheeran endorsement; the only boost its been given is an initial backing by Jager Curtain Call – the collaboration between Jaegermeister and UK publication DIY Magazine, who first funded the recording of the track. Amusingly, coupled with an aesthetically-pleasing, Wes Anderson-esque video that cost “about £100 to make”, this probably gives the song the most cost-effective money: stream ratio on the entire platform. “When we released it we were hoping that it’d get to 20,000 in a couple of months, but then one day it started going up,” remembers singer Murray. “Since then, it’s 100% changed everything. It’s not just people saying ‘cool video’ and sharing it; a lot of these people are buying our records and merch and have adopted us as their new favourite band. We’re in a time where it’s still a fairly recent thing for a Youtube video to build something like that, so for a band to find their fanbase this way is really cool.”
Formed just over three years ago in the seaside town that the band – completed by guitarist Harry, bassist Tav, and drummer Flynn – still call home, FUR might not have expected this sudden change of fortune, but their ambition and determination was there from the start. Meeting initially on a Freshers internet forum, Murray and Harry had formed the basis of the group and began writing before they even started their first day of uni. When finding other flatmates, meanwhile, their only requirement was that they play either drums or bass. “I was very aware that going to a place like Brighton would definitely allow you to do the band thing,” explains the singer. “So when me and Harry met each other we thought, let’s get it started as soon as possible so we’re not wasting time.”
With a full quartet on board, they began to pen tracks based equally in the ‘00s indie they’d grown up with and an increasing rekindled interest in the older music they’d always known from home. “It started off [influenced] by The Strokes and The Cribs, who are another band we all really adore. But as we kept on writing, I found myself really enjoying and being really good at tapping into that [other] place,” explains Murray. “So then it was a case of looking at what sounded like FUR and getting that balance where it doesn’t sound like a band from the ‘60s, it sounds like if a ’60s band were doing something modern.” Harry notes: “For some reason, even when we’d only written two songs, we already knew what FUR sounded like.”
Heading into the release of their debut EP, following recent single ‘What Would I Do?’ (itself already up to half a million views, FYI) what FUR sound like currently is a band capable of penning a particularly nostalgic strain of guitar music but making it sound fresh again. Taking the age-old love song trope and reinvigorating it, theirs are tracks that feel familiar and classic but with a vibrancy that’s entirely new. “The three most written-about things are love, money and sex. One I’m not that comfortable writing about, and I don’t have that much money, but everyone’s felt some feeling of love and there’s something powerful about that,” the singer states. “It’s the strongest emotional connection I can have with a song.”
So far, this outlook has earned them critical plaudits from tastemakers such as Steve Lamacq, as well as gaining them support slots with a truly diverse set of artists including Miles Kane, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and London crooner Matt Maltese – who they’ll shortly be heading out on a full tour with. FUR have also found that their music’s been resonating in more places than just their homeland, too. “I think the one thing we really appreciate is people telling us we have a fanbase in places we never expected. Indonesia has become a big thing, and when people in Peru say there are whole groups of people out there that love us, that’s amazing,” says Flynn before Murray chips in: “And there’s been so much fan art. That’s when I think, what’s going on?! When you see someone who’s spent like, six hours drawing your face…”
It’s a fair point, but with an ever-increasing group of supporters already on board and a forthcoming EP set to cement their excitement, FUR better get used to a little healthy adoration. “When we all think back to where it started with ‘If You Know That I’m Lonely’, doing it on such a shoestring and seeing where we’ve got to now from that, it’s mad,” sums up Murray.
Husky Loops are not your average rock band. In fact, they want to redefine what a rock’n’roll band can be. Sure, there’s three members – Danio Forni (vocals/guitar/production), Pietro Garrone (drums) and Tommaso Medica (bass) – but instruments certainly doesn’t mean that they’re stuck in familiar territory rock music has found itself in. They’re far more forward thinking than that.
Husky Loops will play on Thursday 10th October 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
“We play the required instruments that means we are considered a ‘classic band,’” says leader Danio, knowing that the term “band” is littered with assumptions. “When our first single ‘Dead’ came out in 2016, we were called ‘art-rock’ because we’re not that normal. But I want people to know Husky Loops is not just ‘indie-rock’ or ‘art rock’ or whatever – we can do so much more than that. I’m proud of what we do and being a live band, but those terms aren’t who we are.”
So what on earth are Husky Loops all about, then? The London trio, by way of Bologna, Italy find it hard to put a single label on it themselves, but that is part of the charm. Each song takes on a unique framework that is informed by new and diverse experiences – the DNA of this band is an ever-changing and exciting prospect. One song will utilise the basslines from modern day hip-hop or the ambitious production usually saved for electronic music, with the next incorporating beats typically found in modern-jazz or even UK Garage.
Danio jokingly suggests that people new to the music should expect something like “Mark Ronson if he were in Led Zeppelin”, basically a creative polymath that meets with a bombastic live band. “I’m not saying I’m as good as Mark Ronson, but production is a big thing for me. The Led Zeppelin part is because we’re proud of being a live band, not because we sound like them. Like, if you come see Husky Loops, you’ll see a good band. You can love it or hate it, but what we do is completely live and real.”
Want proof of this diverse spirit? Go check out their mixtape from last summer, ‘Good As Gold’, released on the band’s label, Fighting Ourselves. Crafted in just seven days to a self-imposed deadline, it’s a breath-taking journey full of unexpected detours. On it, there are collaborations with their ever-growing pool of musician friends and admirers, like US singer Mother MaryGold and pop renegade Count Counsellor. They’ve since found friends and collaborators in the shape of Jammer, from seminal grime group BBK, as well as members of the experimental pop collective Superorganism.
Their debut album ‘I CAN’T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH’ – a tongue-in-cheek nod to their continental roots in divisive times – builds on that playfulness. Take the lead single ‘Everyone Is Having Fun Fun Fun But Me’ and its video, shot on Peckham High Street in the middle of the night. The reflective take on modern-day disconnect is paired with a video that apes The Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ and Richard Ashcroft’s sullen stroll down a busy London street. “That’s my favourite video ever and I thought I’d be honest and just copy it. The Verve did that too when they copied Massive Attack’s video for ‘Unfinished Sympathy’. Maybe someone else will copy us,” Danio smirks.
Though the band first met in Bologna while playing in punk and “weird Italian rock bands”, it was a move to London nearly seven years ago that proved the catalyst for the birth of Husky Loops. Pietro arrived first to study at the city’s iconic art-school St. Martins, with Danio and Tom soon arriving in Kilburn. They’d go stand outside of Abbey Road studios, hoping to capture the same swinging ‘60s spirit that was innovated by some of their favourite artists.
To flex their musical muscles and get the ball rolling, the band challenged themselves to craft a stonking and unforgettable live experience. In their early days, the band would head up perform at warehouse raves in Seven Sisters in front of “fucked ravers” at 4am just to get a feel for it. The band’s pulsating live show was enough to keep the crowd going, and their time in Bologna’s live scene prepared them for any eventuality. “When you play in front of no-one for like 6 years, you really have a don’t-give-a-fuck attitude. That’s how to learn how to play loud.”
The band then moved to the other end of London, finding a community in the creative scene in Peckham and the surrounding areas. “The club night Steez was a huge influence for us. There would be a group playing jazz, and then the next artist would be rapping grime tracks – it was a different vibe and everyone was there and into it. That was exactly what we wanted to do, to make everyone have a great time where genre doesn’t even matter.”
If that was their mission statement, their album ‘I Can’t Even Speak English’ is a job well done. There’s ‘Yes I Know What I’m Gonna Do’ a euphoric bubbler that’s their most pop moment to date. Meanwhile, the roar of ‘Temporary Volcano’ captures the chaos and joy of a messy and unpredictable night at the Bussey Building in London.
While Danio’s favourite albums like The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ are other-worldly and spiritually inclined listens, ‘I Can’t Speak English’ is decidedly more human and in touch with the lifestyles of young and diverse communities. It’s an on the nose and hard-hitting journey, something they desperately wanted to capture. “If you’re not on the edge, you’re never going to be able do that,” Danio says. “You should always push the boundaries because if not, what’s the point?”
The album was produced by the band at EastCote Studios in Kensal Road, and features contributions from friend and collaborator Fred Gibson (Plan B, Charli XCX, Stefflon Don), and is mixed by Spoon’s drummer, Jim Eno. But it is merely the start of where the band wants to go. Danio says that the band is working on custom-made outfits for their tour, mind-blowing visuals and a game-changing artwork to accompany their album.
It’s all fitting for a band that could perhaps only exist right now. “I’m from a generation that has no scene – everyone listens to, enjoys and creates whatever they want,” he says. “I want to do everything – make music, create fashion and art, absolutely everything. Its a good time for Husky Loops to be alive.” See, not youraverage rock band.
Vista Kicks is a rock and roll band from California.
Vista Kicks will play on Monday 17th June 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
The band have been touring the US and UK supporting their sophomore record Twenty Something Nightmare (2018). The band are a regular on the US Festival scene recently entertaining audiences at California’s KAABOO Festival and SXSW. They also recently supported The Kooks on their 2018 UK Tour and are in the running to support The Rolling Stones on one of their US ‘No Filter’ Tour dates.
Through the doctored medium of autotune, we proclaim “OI! NO FUCKING QUIZZING AT MY GIG” – except we’re rebels and we do what we want.
Born Music and Birmingham Promoters have teamed up to bring YOU a brand new night of fun and games at The Sunflower Lounge. Think you can take on their Qs and win? Roll on up and see! Prizes include £50 bar tab for the winner plus a load of merchandise goodies up for grabs…
Join us on Saturday 25th May to check out Spilt Milk Society, DAME and The Pines!
Indian Queens, hailing from Hackney Wick, make music for people of the night. For those who live in a dream like state or those who use the dark to carry out their nefarious habits. The only light in Indian Queens world comes from a flickering street lamp or the dull glow of a mobile phone. It’s the music of Dickens East End before the gentrification.
Indian Queens will play on Sat 27th April 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Indian Queens thrive when they are on stage. Their dark, dreamy and hypnotic sounds echo Portishead and Massive Attack mixed with the modern edge and swagger of Warpaint and Radiohead.
Since Formation in late 2016, the band have been picking up high profile fans such as Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins, BellaUnion) Theresa Wayman (Warpaint) and Robert Smith (TheCure), who invited the band to play the prestigious Meltdown festival this year along side artists such as My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails and The Libertines.
In London Indian Queens have a solid following, selling out headline shows at Sebright Arms and St Pancras Old Church in quick succession.
This year they were hand picked to support artists such as TT/Theresa Wayman (Warpaint), Amber Arcades, We are Scientists, Ash and Broncho. Indian Queens were also invited to play a special showcase at House of Vans which lead to them playing their own stage at this year’s Bestival. They also included their current tracks on their in-store playlists across Europe. Other Festival Appearances include Camp Bestival, Boardmasters, Meltdown, Leefest, EVOL and others.
After being John Kennedy’s Hot One on XFM twice in a row, he asked the band to play his own night sponsored by the station. Other Notable plays include Tom Robinson (BBC Radio London), Shell Zenner (Amazing Radio), Goldierocks (The Selector), Burberry Emerging playlist on Apple Music.
Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins / Bella Union): “A band with massive potential. Impressed by how swiftly they are progressing. Looking forward to hearing the debut album”
Clash: “A remarkable fusion of the soothing and the shocking”
Lock Magazine: “‘I Get No Rest’ offers busy and relentless sonics that conjure up visions of London’s seedier and darker side.”
Bittersweet Symphonies: “Indian Queens dazzle, blasting a shade of gold to the otherwise grey backdrop of Hackney, this is about as mesmerising as it gets. There’s darkness, there’s serenity, and the capability to bite someone’s head off”
Tickx: “The sound Indian Queens created tonight was so tight, it could have been a studio recording”
Hunter & The Bear bring their explosive alt-rock to Birmingham as they play an intimate venues tour.
Hunter & The Bear will play on Weds 8th May 2019 at The Sunflower Lounge Birmingham. Tickets are available here.
Hunter & The Bear bring their explosive alt-rock to Birmingham as they play an intimate venues tour ahead of the release of their new album later this year. Songs from the album (recorded with super producer Romesh Dodanenga) will make their live debut, alongside fan favourites such as the dark, high-tension Chemical and the jagged and punchy crowd pleaser Electric.
And it’s not just new songs debuting on this tour – new guitarist and Birmingham native John Caddick joins the party for the first time.
Expect big riffs, huge choruses and energy through the roof from one of the UK’s most exciting modern rock bands.
