The Backhanders

It's always nice when a hard copy of someones latest release drops through the letterbox, as is the case when; courtesy of the enigmatic Mr Peeps, the niftily designed CD just out by The Backhanders in the style of a vinyl 7" single arrived and its look fits in with the two tracks contained within.

The Backhanders are a recently formed Manchester four piece who are rapidly forming a steady local fan-base after a series of successful gigs including a sell-out at Manchester's Academy 3 and a support to Twisted Wheel in Kraak Gallery.





Lead track 'Campfire' is a punchy, guitar driven track inspired by and dedicated to the late Joe Strummer. The track came about after they received a photo album from Joe's wife which included some random lyrics underneath the pictures. With her permission they added their own words to create 'Campfire' and it's reminiscent of the direction Joe took with The Mescaleros. The Backhanders pay him fitting tribute.

They've been getting some radio plays and critical acclaim of late with Terry Christian giving their track 'Memory Lane' a spin and John Robb of Louder Than War including them on his list of bands to watch in 2014. Keep your eyes peeled for their Live Streaming on Vidzta on May 11th and some live dates to be announced soon.

The Cottonettes.....

The Cottonettes are from The Surrey/Hampshire borders and formed in February 2012. Likened in style to The Jam, The Clash and The Vaccines by some or The Chameleons and House of Love by others with maybe a hint of Sham 69 and John Ottway chucked in for good measure. 

The Cottonettes are..... Ben Madle, Josh Young and Marty Dixon 

Over the course of many years Ben had written many songs, usually about his travels around Europe and encounters with different characters. During this time he would see many new bands come and go until he decided that the songs he had penned were actually pretty good and there was no reason his songs couldn't be just as popular. So he sought out some musicians to join his band.

Ben and Josh had known each other for 10 years through the local music scene and occasionally had casual chats about starting a band since they were 17. Only this time it actually happened. Following Josh’s New Year's resolution to do something interesting in 2012 he decided to take Ben’s New Year approach with great enthusiasm. After hearing some rough recordings of Ben’s songs Josh saw the potential and shared Ben’s belief in his music and immediately signed up as the band’s bassist. 

After rattling through a few songs over the following weeks it was time to find a drummer.  Enter Marty who describes himself as a 28 year old eligible bachelor whose drumming has been described as 'genius' and his musical influences include Dive Dive, and Ben Folds Five.

Josh is the bassist and first started playing in bands back in 2003-2006 most noticeably in a band called In The Dark. He is a follower of fashion and is known for his 'interesting' style. His main musical influences come from bands like The Cure, Biffy Clyro and Bloc Party.

Ben is the guitarist, singer and main songwriter.  Much like Josh he played in bands back in the same era, notably a band called Sucka. His musical influences range from people like Graham Coxon, The Clash, and The Jam.

Josh knew Marty since their college days and had also attempted to start bands with Marty. He had just a month before left the Royal Navy and he was the obvious choice as a drummer. Marty enjoyed the songs and loved being behind the drum kit thus The Cottonettes were born.

Since that first practice they have written a set of energetic catchy pop flavoured punk/rock songs, which they energetically tear through at some of the most well known venues in the UK. 

Track The Cottonettes Notify me when The Cottonettes comes to town.

	Date	Venue	Location	Tickets
	Nov 10	The Boileroom	Guildford, United Kingdom	Tickets	RSVP	Share
	Nov 16	The Queens Head	Gosport, United Kingdom		RSVP	Share
	Nov 17	Facebar	Reading, United Kingdom	Tickets	RSVP	Share
	Nov 30	Queens Arms	Reading, United Kingdom	Tickets	RSVP	Share
	Dec 06	Sanctuary	Basingstoke, United Kingdom		RSVP	Share
	Dec 13	The White Hart	Basingstoke, United Kingdom		RSVP	Share