Cardboard Coloured Dreams

So a flurry of posting is now underway, which can mean only one thing! Deadlines loom. But for the next ten minutes, loom I shall let them, because I want to tell you about my new favourite band:

You see, I have always longed to be cool enough to listen to obscure bands that know one else really knew about, but alas (alack), I never have been. Always a child of the mainstream. But wait. Last summer someone introduced me to the Rumble Strips. A band from Tavistock. Which is somewhere in the south west of England so I am told, although they are really based in London. And they rock.

I was introduced to them because a friend and fan of the band was insanely jealous that I was off to the Reading festival (where they were playing), and she was not. So after familiarising myself with their style on their Myspace account some weeks previous I went down to the dusty little cow shed that was the Carling Stage. They had secured themselves an illustrious 11am slot on this renowned stage. A stage with a habit of breaking successful new acts. They played in front of no more than about a hundred to a hundred and fifty people. But they rocked. But not in the ‘woo this rocks!’ sense, but in the far more mature ‘woo, this rocks!’ kind of way.

They play an upbeat, yet mellow, sort of Indy music with the saxophone, trumpet and keyboard being just as central to their songs as the usual guitar and drums. Following their Reading gig I sort of became hooked on their progress.

And I have stunning news. Not only do I have tickets to see them on April 2nd when they come to Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh (I know – stunning isn’t it). But they also have a full album release for the summer of this year! Previously their only release had been a couple of singles and a cardboard clad EP of only four songs. But now they have a full album, produced by none other than the same chap behind both the Kooks and the Fratellis. I am never sure who in the musical world does the ‘tipping’, but ‘tipped’ they have been - these guys are the next summer sensation. Personally I think their unique style probably excludes them from the mega successes of the former two bands but they still certainly deserve their share of time in the limelight.

So consider this me officially jumping on their bandwagon. Before they get big. So I can say that I was there. At the beginning (sort of).

Here’s hoping.