ARTIST: The Boyfriends
TITLE: The Boyfriends
LABEL: Boobytrap
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 218kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 42min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-10-02
RIP DATE: 2006-09-23
Track List
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01. Brave Little Soldiers 3:15
02. Speak Less And Listen 2:26
03. British Summer Time 3:09
04. A Fearless Heart 3:25
05. Remember 3:23
06. Adult Acne 4:13
07. Once Upon A Time 3:42
08. Wonders Never Cease 3:00
09. No Tomorrow 3:45
10. I Love You 3:31
11. There Is Always Hope 8:22
Release Notes:
The Boyfriends are: Martin Wallace (vocals), Richard Adderley (guitar), David
Barnett (bass) and Paddy Pulzer (drums).
Martin Wallaces life changed forever when, at the age of thirteen, he saw Suede
play Metal Mickey on Top Of The Pops: I was brought up in a tiny village called
Whyteleafe, near Purley, he sighs. Very leafy and boring. And then, one evening
this group appeared on the television and I was besotted in an instant. They
just seemed so exotic and suggested so many new possibilities and that was the
first time I realised the power that pop music had. I sincerely believe that pop
music still has the power to change peoples lives.
Fast Forward to February 1999, when the now London-based Martin and his friend
Richard Adderley wrote their first two songs together after Martin had been
invited to contribute to a series of one-off singles on a new independent record
label. Unfortunately, the label had folded by the time they handed in the demos
but the pair continued working on songs together at a slow but steady rate over
the following couple of years. Early in 2002 they enlisted friends David Barnett
and Paddy Pulzer with a view to forming a group to perform the songs they were
writing.
A series of sporadic and experimental rehearsals began but it wasn't until the
autumn of 2002 that the rehearsals became more regular and the group began to
stumble across a signature style, containing elements of both New Wave
abrasiveness and classic, anthemic pop. It was with the arrival of their name
(chosen "because we are all such good boyfriend material remarks Martin) early
in 2003 that the group began to develop an identity. Their first show, on 6th
June 2003, was an almost sold-out appearance at the Bull And Gate, the day
before Martin's twenty-fourth birthday. To Richard's delight, it was attended by
Jim Reid from The Jesus And Mary Chain, who professed The Boyfriends to be
"quite good".
By the winter of 2004, all this had evolved into a something truly distinctive,
with the band seeming to become a classically English, warmly emotional but
noisy guitar group. During a busy 2005 they released two of their demos on an
acclaimed split EP with The Long Blondes, had a demo featured on indie
compilation series Downloaded, another on the second Angular Records
compilation; recorded a session for John Kennedys Xfms X-posure show, and even
enjoyed an entire live set broadcast on the same show. To top it all, that June
their demo of Speak Less and Listen was played three times by three separate
Radio 1 DJs over consecutive nights: Rob Da Bank, Huw Stevens and Steve Lamacq.
Things shifted up another notch at the end of June. It all started when NME
declared The Boyfriends #29 in a list of the 50 essential bands to catch that
summer. Then they hit the headlines and made history by being the first band
ever to play the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury in apocalyptic conditions. Says
Martin: It was an honour in fact we were the first group to play at all and no
small achievement to do so without serious personal injury, given that we were
playing in the middle of an electrical storm and water was dripping from the
roof of the tent onto the stage. The appearance was subsequently broadcast on
BBC 2, 3 and 4, with critical praise appearing afterwards in both The
Independent (see above quote) and NME, as well as an airing of set-closer There
Is Always Hope by Huw Stevens. In fact it was Huw who got them signed to
Cardiff-based indie Boobytrap Records.
And the acclaim continues: Xfms Lauren Laverne mentioned the band in a published
list of her ten favourite new bands, Simon Amstell tipped them as a new band to
look out for on Channel 4s Popworld, and theyve also supported The Hidden Cameras
in London and Morrissey on an entire European tour at his personal request after
he attended one of their shows in early 2006.
Visually, the band have been likened (by Playlouder.com) to sexually ambivalent
East End ruffians, while Artrocker.com dubbed them a real fearsome looking crew
who give the air of being happier on the terraces than singing tender love songs.
Lyrically, they mingle aggression and romanticism with extreme optimism to create
a sound described by joyzine.co.uk as violently hopeful. Musically, The Boyfriends
can be dark but are always ultimately uplifting. Their song 'No Tomorrow' was
described by Xfms John Kennedy as "an anthem for a new generation".