Volcanoes - Shaking That Brass [EP]

Self Released

Smart lyrics, a tight, hungry, almost urgent feel to the music, an impressive back catalogue of EPs and a long, long list of great reviews leaves one question remaining. Why the hell are Volcanoes still unsigned?

Their sound is distinctive, you have to work to make a comparison with anyone else (and no, the really obvious Arctic Monkey comparison because they’re Sheffield and Leeds based, does NOT count in this case: you know you’re scraping the barrel when you’re forced to compare on accent and hometown rather than musical content alone). “Shaking That Brass” is chock full of style switches and experimentation making the five track EP a crash course in adventurous music making, with near perfect results.

The hilarious faux hip hop ‘Making Progress’ is a case in point. A tongue-in-cheek homage to the plight of the unsigned band, complete with half-hearted fake record scratching, singer Samson pokes fun at the frustrating situation that any band who’ve been chasing the dream for a while finds themselves in.

‘Don’t get any ideas young man, you won’t get nothing no matter how you’re sounding. Banging out tunes forever and a day, still singing to your self in different surroundings’

‘I don’t feel like we’re making progress, still bottom of the food chain, bottom of the bill…’

‘Temple’ is pure Indie gold, the vocals jumping from the opening high pitched, pained squeals to soulful melody on the chorus. The melancholy feeling of loss and regret in ‘What You Came For’ is carried through the lyrics into the guitar and drums without any loss of energy in the playing and ‘Eagle Eye’ is a nice, simple, straightforward song demonstrating what these guys can do even when stripped back to their core elements.

Fourth track, ‘Oliver Charles Darwin’ is heavily jazz influenced and here’s where the Brass hinted at in the name appears. Drafting in trumpets with a muted first verse mimicking an old gramophone record, it slides into a smooth swing beat with the added kick of dirty guitars. It’s bloody brilliant.

The music is great, they’ve got a distinctive image and sound. So how did they end up writing 'Making Progress'? Lack of exposure seems to be the main problem. “Shaking That Brass” was recorded in 2009, (tracks from their latest, also very good, EP “Sugar and Snarls” can be found on Myspace) and only made it’s way to this reviewer in March 2010, case in point. I personally think this is a travesty and would like to help the situation with this open letter to the music industry:

Dear Record Industry Types,

Remember a few years back when you’d mined the talent of the South East dry and there was a mass migration to the outer edges of the kingdom? Remember you came back trailing a load of guitar bands with accents? Remember how you found a couple of good ones and signed anyone you reckoned were anything like them, gave them massive budgets and rammed their music, faces and love lives down the throats of the general public for a year, only to see them disappear off the radar somewhere between the recording and release of their second album? Yeah? Well that was because they sucked and therefore so do you. Fortunately there’s a solution to this situation you find yourselves in.

If you wish to redeem yourselves, get your ‘Next Big Thing’ hunting backsides back up North and sign the Volcanoes, now! They’re talented musicians and songwriters with an aptitude for self expression and humour which will have the media and the public eating out of your hands. They’re a great band who actually deserve the attention of the wider world. Think about it, they’re ready made. You don’t have to hire anyone to write the songs or anything! It’s a win-win situation, you know it makes sense.

Regards,
A Humble Altsounds Lackey

And if that doesn’t get them a deal, I don’t know what else they can do. If anyone reading this does have the clout to do something about it, do it, for God’s sake. It’ll be one more win for the good guys in the war against crap music. Do it, do it, do it!