Kicking their live stage vibrance into record format with their indie-rock boots tightly laced on, Mirrorkicks will be releasing their second single, ‘Anything’, on February 1st 2010. The band are currently sending viral shockwaves across the web with their version of Leona Lewis’, ‘Bleeding Love’, and will be heading out on a mini UK tour at the end of January including a headline slot at the Water Rats on 2nd February.

The most ferocious roots guitarist from the UK since The Yardbirds, 22-year-old Isle of Man born Davy Knowles returns to the UK with his band Back Door Slam and a brand new album “Coming Up For Air” produced by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Peter Frampton and mixed by Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, The Who and Paul McCartney). Davy Knowles has spent the last two years on a US blues pilgrimage wowing audiences in every state, even giving guitar legend Jeff Beck a run for his money, having just finished a support tour with him. He has rubbed shoulders with many other guitar greats, opening for the likes of The Who, Kid Rock, Chickenfoot, Joe Bonamassa, Lynyrd Skynrd, Buddy Guy, Eric Burdon and George Thorogood.

Davy perfectly captures the spirit of those he admires in “Coming Up For Air”. The album has the force of Stevie Ray Vaughan, while vocally resembling the late, great Jeff Healey, evoking the guitar expertise of Peter Green and rhythmically embracing the style of Robert Cray. Davy’s respect for Robert inspired him to name his band Back Door Slam, after one of Cray’s song titles. But while it may contain elements of guitar greats, there’s a uniqueness to the album which can only be described as the style of Davy Knowles.

Davy goes beyond the blues in his second studio album “Coming Up For Air”, which marks his introduction into the UK. He describes the new album as “the next step musically” for him. It features 11 brand new studio recordings, comprising nine Davy Knowles compositions, a compelling cover of George Harrison’s “Hear Me Lord” and the special bonus track, “Taste of Danger,” a duet with respected New York singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke. The new album was recorded in Los Angeles at Sage and Sound studios, with the crème de la crème of musicians featuring on the album such as, Fritz Lewak (drums) and Kevin McCormick on bass (Jackson Browne’s rhythm section), respected British singer and Richard Thompson band member Christine Collister on backing vocals, and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench on keyboards. “All the tracks were recorded in the same room, at the same time,” Davy explains, “so you get that real live feeling.”

The album kicks off with “Coming Up For Air”, inspired by an interview Davy read with guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan about “Picking yourself up from the bootstraps, but the bootstraps are broken.” The George Orwell novel “Coming Up For Air” also enthused Davy to use that as the album title and opening track, as “a story about slugging away,” which Davy greatly relates to.

While the bulk of “Coming Up For Air” was written by Davy, he also finds himself teaming up with a few new co-writing partners, which is how he was originally introduced to Frampton. “We ended up writing “Keep On Searching”, and found a real musical chemistry together,” says Davy. “Then before he knew it, I roped him into producing the whole album. “

“The beauty of writing with someone like Frampton,” he goes on, “is that you get all their influences and all their past experiences, which has taken me in a direction that I wouldn’t have been able to achieve by myself.” This is the first album Frampton has ever produced outside his own; he also serves as a musician on a number of tracks such as “Keep On Searching”, “You Can’t Take This Back” and “Hear Me Lord”, where Peter joins Davy on guitar and backing vocals.

Having only initially been booked in for one SXSW performance in 2007, the overwhelming response to Davy means he’s been touring the US ever since with the first window to leave and play the UK not presenting itself until now. The current live line-up consists of Davy Knowles on lead vocals, guitar and mandolin, Paul Kemmish on bass, Steve Barci on drums and Terrill Bailie on keys, who also plays with Pearl Jam. Together the band have been playing in front of sell-out audiences at prestigious festivals such as Bonnaroo, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Austin City Limits, SXSW and Ottowa Blues Festival.

New Album ‘Coming Up For Air’ will be released this Autumn on Blix Street Records

Quotes

“Davy is my new favourite modern-day bluesman”- Joe Satriani

“He shreds like a young Robert Cray and wails like the love of his life was just hit by a truck”- Village Voice (USA)

“I heard the spirit of Jimi Hendrix coming from the open, streetside windows of a joint called B.D Riley’s”- Seattle Times at SXSW

“The kid can sing… As greybeards in the audience nodded to each other in approval, a teenage girl exclaimed “oh my god I love him!” You can’t ask for better demographics than that.” – Austin Chronicle.

InMe return with their fourth album, ‘Herald Moth’ this August on Graphite Records. An album that reveals a band who have matured and shaken off the early ‘emo’ trappings of their 2003 debut.

First single from Herald Moth, ‘Single Of The Weak’, is a real hybrid of sounds from early ska rhythms to metal, whilst other tracks ‘All Terrain Vehicle’ reveals Dave McPherson’s vocals at the top of his game, and similarly ‘The Art of Moderation’ and ‘Happy to Disappoint You’ reflects his under rating as a guitarist for the more technical progressive side. Whilst ‘Nova Armada’ just about encapsulates everything the band is currently about.

“We wanted to create lots of technical layers with an edge; to heavy, melodic tunes,” opens lead vocal/guitarist Dave McPherson. “With Daydream Anonymous we established a more mature sound and pushed our abilities as musicians. Now we’ve really stepped that up. The new album is darker, more epic and grander than we’ve ever been.”

Lyrically the album deals with the great hardships McPherson has had to come to terms with.

“I’ve had a particularly tough couple of years. Not to say I feel sorry for myself but things haven’t been particularly easy. Part of that was I gave in too much, became too weak and let everything get on top of me. The main theme throughout ‘Herald Moth’ is adversity really. It gave me a therapeutic outlet to spit out all the darker, negative things within me to become stronger at the end of it.”

In July 2006, bassist Joe Morgan quit the band and was replaced by McPherson’s brother Greg and in 2007 they went on to agree a new deal with Graphite Records for the release of ‘Daydream Anonymous’; the band’s most critically acclaimed album to date. In the Autumn of 2008, second guitarist Ben Konstantinovic joined.

“We’d wanted a 2nd guitarist for a long time,” Dave explains. “But the right guy never came along.”

Ben began playing on McPherson’s regular acoustic nights around the UK. Over time it became clear he was more than the man for the job. “He completely blew everyone away,” confirms Dave. “He has a maths degree and is a qualified pilot too!”

INME never limit themselves & in their 13 years of existence have constantly evolved to become the 4 man machine they are today. Their passionate and innovative attitude towards creating music has led to the creation of their proudest opus, ‘Herald Moth’ and to accompany this they will be heading out on a full UK tour in September.

September
16 The Royal, Derby
17 Newcastle Academy 2, Newcastle
18 53 Degrees, Preston
19 The Cockpit, Leeds
21 ABC2, Glasgow
22 Manchester Academy 3, Manchester
23 Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
24 The Garage, London
25 Chinnerys, Southend
26 The Harlequin, Redhill*
27 Concorde 2, Brighton*
28 Oxford Academy 2, Oxford
30 Talking Heads, Southampton

October
1 Orange Box, Yeovil
2 TJ’s, Newport
3 Hobbits, Western
4 The Cavern, Exeter
*supporting We Are The Ocean

Tickets are on sale now at Aloud

June marks the release of ‘Dead Man’s Suit’ the debut long-player from South Devon’s finest, Jon Allen. Sitting comfortably with contemporaries such as Ryan Adams, Jose Gonzales and Damien Rice, whilst being unmistakeably evocative of the folk-rock scene of the late 60s/ early 70s.

A confident performer – opening for the likes of Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, KT Tunstall, Jose Gonzalez and Damien Rice has not fazed him – wowing audiences in the process in venues from the miniscule 12 Bar all the way up to Wembley Arena.

The critically acclaimed first single ‘Going Home’, championed by Radio 1’s Jo Whiley, featured on the worldwide Land Rover TV commercial in 2008 achieving a respectable 20,000 downloads from Jon’s website off the back of the advert. The proceeds gave Jon the freedom to self-fund the recording of his album and media campaign. This track was also made record of the week by Absolute Radios drive time host, Geoff Lloyd.

‘Dead Mans Suit’ shows an eclectic range of influences, from early Rod Stewart and the Faces to the legendary and lamented John Martyn in his ‘Solid Air’ era. Jon echoes Martyns spirit and reflectiveness and at the same time shows that he knows how to pen a good hook

The album kicks off with ‘Dead Man’s Suit’, released June 22nd which despite the name is an uplifting melodic tune in which Rod Argent (Zombies)-style organ plays a significant role throughout the song. This contrasts with the soulful ballad ‘In Your Light’, which has achieved significant praise at BBC Radio 2, riding high on the A list, having been championed by the likes of Ken Bruce, Johnnie Walker, Dermot O’leary and Bob Harris, with a session booked with Bob for May 30th.

Other songs like ‘Take Me To The Heart’ subtly echo a James Taylor-esque, West Coast 70s singer-songwriter acoustic atmosphere, complementing the more groove- based bluesy rock numbers such as ‘Young Man Blues’, released June 22nd.

‘Dead Mans Suit’ is a testament to the art of quality songwriting – Jon studied at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts founded by Paul McCartney, who has praised Jon on his penmanship and offered up help in the form of writing sessions with the great man. That experience helped Jon find fans in the likes of songwriting heavyweights such as Guy Chambers. Singer James Morrison is also a fan, having found time off whilst touring to catch Jon at a show and Jools Holland who said Jon is “One of the most amazing voices I’ve heard this year, when I heard his track on the radio I had to Shazam it straightaway to find out who it was”.

Jon Allen has already achieved a lot in his short career and has been praised by some of the music industry’s great and good. Just like his growing audience, they’ve all seen the prospect of Jon as a long-term, career- sustaining artist, whose authentic songs will not go out of fashion.