Fresh from their killer performance at the Electric Picnic – not only on stage, but also in the Hot Press Chatroom – The Go! Team play Dublin this November.
Sheffield band Reverend and the Makers will accompany The Zutons, The Flaming Lips and The Go! Team on the line-up for the Belsonic festival in August.
We should have been warned. For a while now the whispers have been that, no matter how good The Go! Team were on record (ie. bloody fantastic) it wasn't a patch on the live experience. All well and good but, believe me, nothing could have prepared us to become part of a mass of waving arms, grinning inanely and chanting Go! Team as if our lives depended on it. It was that kind of night.
Given that the Thunder, Lightning, Strike album was essentially the sound of one man in his bedroom, ‘Grip Like A Vice’ is the first time that the full Go! Team experience has made it into the studio. As such, it doesn’t disappoint. Everything we’ve come to expect from their live show is present and correct, all tied up in a record that is uplifting, full of righteous positivity and guaranteed to get the party started wherever they land this summer. Here’s hoping that the album will display a bit more progression but for the moment, the Go! Team are back and that’s all that matters.
Operating in the interstice where Sonic Youth meet the Jackson 5, Brighton dance-rock outfit The Go! Team are deservedly brewing up a storm with their debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike.
The Go! Team re-release their fantastic Thunder Lightning Strike, the pot-boiler album of the year, later this month. Worth it for the impudent harmonica alone, it is as good as you’ve been told, so make like the Nice treaty and give in to it, because you know they’re just going to keep putting it out there it ‘til we do.
Touring mates and neighbours of The Go! Team, the Pipettes had been flitting from one small indie label to another, before finding a home with the Team at Memphis. It also marks their move away from the slight air of novelty to proper pop band, much in the manner of The Chalets’s recent transformation. Indeed the two bands share something of a musical template, especially in the classic girl-group vocals. ‘Dirty Mind’ is good yet b-side ‘Because It’s Not Love’ is better and wouldn’t sound out of place on the Grease soundtrack. Yes, that is a complement.
Touring mates and neighbours of The Go! Team, the Pipettes had been flitting from one small indie label to another, before finding a home with the Team at Memphis. It also marks their move away from the slight air of novelty to proper pop band, much in the manner of The Chalets’s recent transformation. Indeed the two bands share something of a musical template, especially in the classic girl-group vocals. ‘Dirty Mind’ is good yet b-side ‘Because It’s Not Love’ is better and wouldn’t sound out of place on the Grease soundtrack. Yes, that is a complement.
From the people who bought the you The Go! Team comes another gem, this time rooted more in the traditional guitar based style of things, yet still given a unique twist by way of its pure oddness, as a duet between the rumbling male and trilling female voices unfolds over some spiralling guitars. They had a previous single called ‘Donkey Stock’ you know. Worthy of much further investigation.
“Intricate patterns and swells, edging towards dramatic, sweeping movements” are promised on February 21 when Washington DC experimentalists Le Loup play Dublin's Crawdaddy.
The Manuva tune is heavy of bass, vocal and theme, something enhanced by the brooding Nightmares On Wax remix, while the Go! Team bring a hitherto untapped playfulness to Rodney Smith’s personal demons.
Cajun Dance Party, the band most likely to be sent to the headmaster’s office for being too twee, know all about youthful abandon – they're currently studying for their A-Levels.
The line-up for August's Belsonic festival in Belfast is hotting up with some new additions to the bill, including Mystery Jets, Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip and Delorentos.
Having graced the Closer soundtrack and made the cut for the OC’s illustrious collection, Damien Rice is doing very nicely out of compilations these days.
Recorded in a day across various locations by a cast of 22, Help! A Day In The Life is the second WarChild album, the objective being to raise funds for child victims of global conflict.
Our correspondent gets his snout out of the suey trough long enough to watch Hal, The Revs and former Snow Patrol man Iain Archer participate in the Eurosonic talentfest in Groningen. Words and Photos: Stuart Clark
In the first installment of Hot Press' Oxegen coverage, Phil Udell, Steve Cummins and John Walshe pick out their personal favourites of the weekend. This Thursday's Hot Press will feature extended coverage from Kim Porcelli & Ed Power as well as more exclusive photos from Liam Sweeney, Graham Keogh & Andrew Duffy - PLUS the Phantom reports from backstage!
Online Gallery Of Live Shots Here
Former Smiths drummer Mike Joyce talks about playing Dublin back in the day with Morrissey and co, his hugely impressive list of musical collaborations, and the joys of life behind the kit.
Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley impressed a lot of people here last year with the quirky guitar pop of her debut solo album Grey Will Fade. hotpress catches up with her as she wows the masses at Japan's Fuji Rock Festival.
Never mind figgy puddings and partridges in pear trees, there’s some serious seasonal business to be done as the annual HP-7 summit gathers in the crucible of cultural discourse that is The Central Hotel’s Library Bar.
