‘All We Need Is A Little Bit Of Energon And A Lot Of Luck’Meet Me In St. Louis:Toby Hayes – Vocals
Oli Knowles – Guitar
Ben Llewellyn – Guitar
Lewis Reynolds - Bass
Paul Phillips - Drums

According to a popular film and television website, “Meet Me In St. Louis is delightful, classic, nostalgic, poignant, and romanticized”. Some of these words may ring true for the band, but in the most part this is a very different beast. Completely incomparable and definitely something to behold.Taking their name from the popular 1940’s Judy Garland film, the band formed in June 2005 setting up base in Guildford, each member delighted to finally have a chance to enjoy the novelty of writing with a team of equally talented musicians, all set on creating something slightly out of the norm. Blending schizophrenic time-changes, blast beats, huge guitar riffs and catchy vocal hooks sounds like a recipe for disaster but that wasn’t to be the case, with the band quickly rising to the forefront of the UK underground scene and causing jaws to hit the ground right the way across the country with their blistering live assault.

In front of a crowd is where this band really come into their own. Having perfectly honed their style after playing every toilet venue up and down the UK, as well as a fortnight-long trip around Eastern Europe, it’s about more than the music. Limbs flailing and spilling into the crowd, it’s a live performance you and your painfully ringing ears won’t forget in a long time, and as good a reason as any to why so many people are tipping this band for greatness. The band will be continuously touring throughout September and October with the likes of Hell Is For Heroes and An Emergency amongst others. Their debut EP, the tongue-twisting ‘And with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark – the place where the wave finally broke and rolled back’ (released via local label Function Records in summer 2006) was as well received as it was overly titled. Plaudits in hand Meet Me In St. Louis set about writing their first full-length record. A chance email was sent and new fan and friend-to-be, Alex Newport (the genius behind records from At The Drive-In, The Locust, The Mars Volta, Sepultura and many, many more), flew over to produced the release in January 2007 at the renowned Miloko Studios in London. A tiring two weeks (diarised on the Drowned In Sound website) filled with highs and lows, sound tweaking and illness followed, with the band eventually coming away with what will soon be regarded as one of the debut albums of the year. A truly astonishing record from a band on the verge of following their namesake into genre-defining history.‘Variations On Swing’ is released via Big Scary Monsters Records on 24th September, proceeded by the single ‘All We Need Is A Little Bit Of Energon And A Lot Of Luck’ on 17th September.

www.meetmeinstlouis.co.uk
www.myspace.com/meetmeinstlouis

Title: Variations On Swing
Label: Big Scary Monsters Records
Release date: 24th September 2007
Distributor: Shellshock
Tracklisting:
1. The Torso Was Severed In Mid Thorax
2. Well You Damn Well Should
3. Right This Way You Maverick Renegade.
4. I Am Champagne You Are Shit
5. I Beat Up The Bathroom, I'm Sorry
6. Ein Zwei Drei Hasslehoff
7. All We Need Is a Little Energon And a Lot of Luck
8. Come To New York, There Were Fewer Murders This Year
9. I've Got Knives In My Eyes I'm Going Home Sick
10. You're Doomed

Live dates
16.09 - Kingston, The Fightiing Cocks (w/ Year of The Man)
26.09 - Oxford, The Wheatsheaf (w/ Lovvers)
27.09 - London, Bardens Boudouir (w/ Lovvers, Cutting Pink With Knives)
30.09 – Kingston, Fighting Cocks
01.10 – Bristol, The Croft
08.10 – Chatham, Tap n Tin
12.10 – Margate, The Lido
18.10 - Cambridge, The Portland Arms
19.10 - Luton, George the 2nd (w/ An Emergency)
20.10 - Oxford, The Wheatsheaf (w/ An Emergancy)
21.10 - Leeds, Brainwash Festival (w/ An Emergency)
22.10 - Glasgow, 13th Note (w/ An Emergency)
23.10 - Edinburgh, Henry's cellar Bar (w/ An Emergency)
24.10 - Middlesbrough, Dr Browns (w/ An Emergency)Supporting Hell is For Heroes:25.10 - Leeds, Cockpit
26.10 - Dundee, Reading Roooms
27.10 - Glasgow, King tuts
28.10 - Manchester, Academy 3
29.10 - Birmingham, Barfly
31.10 - Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms
01.11 – Exeter, Cavern
02.11 - Falmouth, Princess Pavillions

Press quotes
“For those appreciating the current spate of ear-bludgeoning trail-blazers (see Gallows, The Scare) …. Inventively retelling five chapters of DIY punk in one go- Fugazi, Minor Threat, Q and not U, At the Drive in and Million Dead included” - NME

"Unbelievable, this total powerhouse. You felt like you were standing in the eye of a storm. If you want your life to be complete, you have to see this band live at least once" – Marsha Shandur, XFM

"The Sonic ADD of Meet Me In St Louis makes Forward Russia sound like Keane" – The Fly (Ones To Watch)

"Currently the closest thing we've got to a hard touring At The Drive-In style band, the energy and intesity is almost unparallelled in a UK act of their style... We the attendees are swept away by waves of convulsions, of twitching fingers on red-hot frets and drum patterns designed with the sole purpose of disorientation. We’re dizzy by two songs in; come five, were in a state of absolute hypnotism. 9/10" – Mike Diver, Drowned In Sound

"MMISL threaten to bust the temperature gauge with amazingly explosive, off-kilter drumming that Cap'n'jazz would have been more than proud of and a million searing riffs that hark back to the irregularity of At the drive in and Blood Brothers. It is this heady combination of influences, despite the lack of a discernable beat, which sends half the crowd into spasmodic judders - they seem to be dancing but it looks totally involuntary. The other half of the crowd simply stands there transfixed with their mouths open. KKKK" - Kerrang

"Possessed by the spirit of Cap n Jazz, they jerk like men under a voodoo spell; when their guitars truly crunch, though, the bombast is the equal of Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies as they ascend star-wards, afterburners spitting scorched soul back to a ground zero encircled by mouth-agape onlookers. Spilling from stage into punters personal spaces, their in-your-face approach would be off-putting were it not for the delightful intricacies they weave so effortlessly. Their drummer alone bristles with creativity enough to propel all three bands tonight to dizzy heights." – Rock Sound