SUNWHEEL are back after a 26-year hiatus featuring the original line up of Mark Gould on Vocals & percussion, Bobby Manners on Lead guitar, keyboards, harmonica & backing vocals, Andy Richardson on Guitar & backing vocals, Matt Shaw on Bass guitar and John Middleton on Drums & Percussion.
SUNWHEEL were formed in the heady days of the 90’s, a golden age of indie rock. Touring the university circuit and the London scene Sunwheel were known for their soaring ‘Verve like’ choruses and great musicianship. Fast forward to August 2024 and the original 5 members from Derby, England are back and they are raring to go with some new music as well as looking forward to performing live some of the classic Sunwheel anthems.
The brand new song to be released by the band, Ferris Wheels & Laser Beams is a song about loss, then finding love and being immersed in the whole overwhelming (but universal) experience, and power of those emotions.
Composed collaboratively by the band earlier this year, the track showcases the guitarists’ distinctive riffs, complemented by pulsating rhythms and captivating vocal harmonies.
The new track is a massively appealing anthem with a distinct vibe to the songs of the band’s heyday while still managing to sound fresh and exciting to a whole new audience of fans.
After a successful 10 date UK Tour. Marseille release their Freedom E.P.
The EP features 4 cracking songs from a band that are shining on the UK indie scene and currently making more waves than the ocean.
“Psychedelic sunshine beaming down on them” ~ Steve Lamacq (BBC Radio 6)
Marseille are a young rock n roll band formed in late 2021 in Derby, England. The band consists of Will Brown, Joe Labram, Lennon Hall, Tom Spray and most recently Felix Moxey. The 90’s Madchester scene and the 60’s Merseybeat is where Marseille draw most their influences from.
In 2022, Marseille had successes with the singles “Forget It All” which was played on Soccer Am and the 9 minute monster “The Jungle”. Over that summer, the band also performed at the Y-Not and Isle Of Wight Festivals.
Already in 2023 the band have completed a successful 10 date UK Tour selling out venues and are continually building their fan base.
Track 1: ‘Freedom’ is trademark Marseille. A Fast tempo, high energy, in your face guitar driven anthem with euphoric guitar solos. The track starts with a brilliant drum intro, a thumping bassline and the roaring feedback of guitars and this sets the tone for the rest of the rock n roll anthem.
Its a song written about the band’s hometown of Derby. The lyric portrays how there’s not a lot going for it anymore. Once a city booming with life in the streets is now a dull, gloomy place which really needs something to liven it up again.
Track 2: “Only Just Begun” is a great call back to Marseille’s 60’s Mersey-beat inspired sound with hints of the 60’s psychedelia movement. With sweet sounding guitar riffs oozing with a bright sunny sound. It’s a song jam packed with glorious hooks and jangles and a great sing-along catchy chorus.
The song is written about a relationship that ended too soon and how something so full of potential can end before it even began.
Track 3: “Thinker” is a heartfelt song accompanied by divine strings. It has a lyric that plays with your heart and killer hooks that cut deep in your soul. The song is reflective and full of emotion addressing the situation of lost loved ones and all the things you want to say to them now they’re gone.
Track 4: “Lost And Found” This track came from the same recording sessions and had previously been an early live favourite of the band’s fans. One of the first songs the band fully fleshed out together, this is a song with a lot of history and the band wanted to keep in touch with that raw, live sound.
The debut E.P. Rise, from Manchester ensemble, North, quietly emerged from its wrappings at the start of 2023. No pomp, no fuss, just slipping into being, like something soft-bodied and vulnerable slipping out of it carapace amidst a hard, unforgiving world.
North are a five piece band based in the north of the city fronted by Stuart Wolfenden, a face that will be familiar to many following his years treading the boards, walking the cobbles and appearing in great British films like Dead Man’s Shoes. This is no vanity project of some thesp though, this is a record about thoughts and feelings that are usually kept inside the darker places and not usually for public consumption. It is about the types of life choices that will erode vanity and show it to be character trait preserved for others, not our Stuart. Maybe once, but not anymore.
Rise consists of three tracks, the opener, Recovery, sets the band’s stall out; no Friday night bangers here, this way leads only to truth and that soft bodied vulnerability I mentioned above. Do not abandon hope though, this is an uplifting song that foreshadows what is instore as the record progresses, brutally honest songwriting and subtly superb musicianship. Track two, Manchester, is about home, the promises of being young in the coolest city on Earth and what that feels like when you are older, wiser and perhaps, not as cool anymore.
The final track on the E.P. is called “You”, a song of love and hope, and I feel North have saved the best till last here. The guitar work is sublime in a Knopfler or Gilmore style, bluesy progressions, expressive note bends and emotional sustains but with an understated, economic beauty, it is the star of the show here. The band and the song itself allow plenty of space for the guitar to connect with the listener too, which I love. My only criticism of this track, at just over 6 minutes long, it is just too short! I didn’t want it to end.
Rise is a quietly brutal record, it shows the bands vulnerabilities but at the same time it tells us that it is good to be vulnerable; other people are vulnerable too and if we believe in each other, well, we might just get through this. I would love to see North play and I would want it to be in a tiny, smoke filled room at about 2 in the morning after a day of drowning my sorrows, that would be just magic.
You can catch North playing when they headline the Stone Sugar Jamboree on the 15th of April, you can stream the songs from all the usual places and find them on facebook.
Daniel Rowley #MusicSceneWales @MusicSceneWales musicscenewalescymru@gmail.com
Marseille are the hotly tipped indie band formed in late 2021 from Derby, England. The band consists of Will Brown, Joe Labram, Lennon Hall, Tom Spray and most recently Felix Moxey. Signed to Birmingham based label ADR Records, the 90’s Madchester scene and the 60’s Merseybeat is where Marseille draw most their influences from.
In 2022 Marseille enjoyed success with several single releases. “Forget It All” was featured on Soccer Am and the 9 minute monster “The Jungle” was loved by radio and press alike, cementing this band well and truly and ones to watch. Over the summer, the band performed at the famous Y-Not and Isle Of Wight Festivals.
Kicking off the New Year just as strongly as they left off, Marseille are keeping the momentum going with no signs of slowing down anytime soon, with the release of their latest single “Only Just Begun” which is to be taken from the band’s upcoming EP, which also features the aforementioned track ‘Freedom’
The new single “Only Just Begun” is a great call back to Marseille’s 60’s Mersey-beat inspired sound with hints of the 60’s psychedelia movement. With sweet sounding guitar riffs oozing with a bright sunny sound taking you right back to lazy, hazy summers days, without a care in the world.. It’s a track that is jam packed with glorious hooks and jangles and a magnificently catchy, sing-along chorus.
Vocally, the band has stepped up their sound to another level with harmonies enhancing what was already a rich sound. Frontman Will Brown’s vocal gives the record the mid-60s beat classic sonic to great effect.
Marseille lead singer and songwriter, Will Brown, has commented of the track:
“The song is written about a relationship that ended too soon which I’m sure is something a lot of people have experienced. Something full of potential just ends for a silly reason. This song just reflects that and tells a story of feelings and what happened over the course of that time”
‘Only Just Begun’ was written by Marseille and is being released under ADR Records and has already received praise from the likes of Travellers Tunes who have commented “Marseille’s debut EP is set for release this April and it inevitably will change guitar music for the better”.
Marseille are shortly set to embark on a 10 date countrywide tour in support of this single and EP release. Full dates of which can be seen below.
Jemma Johnson is the rapidly rising pop singer-songwriter from Derby, UK. Already having racked up over 20 million streams on Spotify and gained a following of over 64,000 on YouTube, it’s clear that this girl is going to be a star and new release ‘Love Rush’ only further cements her status as being most definitely one to watch.
The new single, ‘Love Rush’ is a straight off the bat, high octane, shake off your troubles and dance around the room track that is quite literally an adrenaline rush to the system of ‘you’re so yesterday, I’ve moved on vibes’. Its the ultimate feel good break up song showing the world “I really don’t care, I’m over you”.
With its almost instantly recognisable sound, it’s clear from the very first listen that this track is something pretty special. With comparisons to the likes of Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne, we can tell with this track that Jemma Johnson is most certainly a name that deserves to be up there with these other sensational kick-ass females.
The track features Ed Sheeran’s drummer, Mark Pusey on it who on first listen, having loved the song so much that he immediately asked to play on the recording, further adding to the fresh energetic vibe of the track.
Jemma has said of the track::
“I wrote Love Rush when I’d had enough of toxic relationships and needed to have fun and rock out! I felt like I was a kid again going out into the world without any fears and doubts. It’s a big fuck you to heartbreak and a big shout out to confidence and new me attitude.”
Having gigged with the likes of Charlie Simpson, Beth McCarthy and playing her debut at Y Not Festival this year, Jemma continues to impress and enthral audiences with her amazing vibe and incredible catchy tunes with their relatable lyrics. She’s a musical force to be reckoned with and a name that you will be hearing a lot more of in the coming weeks and months as she continues on her upwards trajectory.
‘Love Rush’ received its first nation radio spin last weekend when it was played by Dean Jackson on BBC Introducing East Midlands and who declared the track as being worthy of being playlisted on the major BBC radio stations and how he would be forwarding it on!
The York based five piece band consisting of Duke Witter on vocals, Sonny Leach on Guitar, Sam Lambert on Guitar, Joe Adams on Bass and Tom Elliott on drums, announced via their social media channels last week that they are taking a break from performing for the time being.
While this is incredibly sad for fans of this super talented young band, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel as the band also announced that they planned to exit the stage while leaving us with the gift of not one but two brand new single releases that they recorded earlier in the year.
Therefore, we see the release of two previously unheard tracks from the band ‘Afraid to Speak’ and ‘The Day Will Come’ along with the accompanying music videos.
During their career to date Serotones have secured themselves a brace of hits receiving airplay on the likes of Radio X, RTE 2 FM and appearing on Soccer AM on multiple occasions.
The band also enjoyed gigging extensively with gigs at venues such as o2 Academy in Leeds and Rock City Nottingham and many high profile festival slots such as at the Isle Of Wight and Gathering Sounds Festivals. Serotones previous releases include their self titled EP in 2018, and singles ‘Looks Can Be Deceiving’ (2018), ‘Death In Paradise’ (2019) ‘Dream Start’ (2020), ‘Are You Listening’ (2020), ‘Better Than This’ (2021), ‘This Won’t Last Forever’ (2021) and the 2022 release of ‘Nothing’s What It Seems’ that was played on both Radio X and Soccer AM. You can listen to all of these tracks on the band’s Spotify linked HERE
Marseille are the Derby based newly increased in size, five piece band consisting of Will Brown on Vocals/Rhythm Guitar, Joe Labram on Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals, Lennon Hall on Rhythm Guitar/Backing Vocals, Felix Moxey on Bass and Tom Spray on Drums/Percussion.
Although only formed in 2021, the band have wasted no time in getting down to business showcasing an impressive momentum in releasing an envious array of hit singles to date to include the 2022 releases of ‘Forget It All’ ‘Might As Well Be Mine’ and ‘The Jungle’ including the Vega Rally Remix of the track and the b-side of ‘The Universe Is Yours’ – all of which were received to much critical acclaim.
It’s fair to say that Marseille have had a pretty impressive 2022 with their catalogue of releases, features and support from the likes of Soccer AM, BBC Radio, Sirius XM Radio, online praise from Shed Seven and reviews from the likes of RGM, This Is The Music and Travellers Tunes to name but a few.
Marseille have also been gigging relentlessly up and down the country and have made several festival appearances including their debut at this year’s Isle Of Wight and Y-Not Festivals. A trend that they look set to continue into 2023.
Another notable accolade for the band includes having their music featured in a major televised music documentary ‘Kick Out The Jams – The Story of XFM’ which was aired in selected cinemas and on Sky TV.
The unstoppable force of musical brilliance that is Marseille are now back with their latest offering the huge, anthemic, rock and roll track ‘Freedom’.
From the get-go this track is full throttle, in your face with pounding drums, rumbling bass lines and electrifying and sonic guitar hooks.
Frontman Will, undoubtedly offers his best vocal performance to date on this track as he takes centre stage over the siren and buzz of electric melodies surrounding him. It’s a hypnotic track that will completely draw you in. The track zooms along at a breathtaking pace until mid section when there’s a subtle change of pace, but then the drums take control once more and the track suddenly bursts back into life with a wall of sound, filled with reverbing, explosive guitars.
Lyrically, ‘Freedom’ is a life-affirming, soul-enriching track that is jammed packed with pure poetic brilliance.
‘FREEDOM’ was written by Marseille and is being released under ADR Records. It has already been picked up and featured by BBC Introducing and has received press praise from Travellers Tunes who have said “Marseille have emerged with the finest rock n roll song of 2022”.
Indie Revolution 