The Undivided

Hailing from the South Wales Valleys, The Undivided are a four-piece comprising of lead guitarist and singer Joe Disson, percussive maestro Rhydian Mason, guitarist Lew Bray and joining in 2014 Bass guitarist Craig Prosser.

Formed circa 2010, born from the ashes of previous aural endeavors and built on the back of long-standing friendships. 



A successful meeting of minds, a period of incessant and relentless gigging followed, which saw them perform dates across the UK- including support and opening slots for Ash, The Xcerts, Kids in Glass Houses, The Dirty Youth and IDivide - with praise coming from Kerrang!, Rock Sound, NME and XFM, to name but a few.

Satellites is the title track dropped from their epontmous EP and it reflects the fact that The Undivided are a band driven by a desire to create the kind of noise people simply have to stand up and hear. Ralph will be spinning Satellites on the Radio KC Indie Show this Sunday, October 23rd.

Inspired by the political, message-heavy words of fellow countrymen Manic Street Preachers, the instrumentation of Idlewild, and the penchant for melodic pop sensibilities evident in the likes of Mansun and Peace, The Undivided make music that’s impossible to ignore. 

Soaring guitar chords launch from atop punishing riffs, shuddering bass lines carry the rhythms forward, and sledgehammer drumbeats underpin this combination of harmony and electricity.

Their previous album This New Day was produced by Romesh Dodangoda which helped garner the funding support from the Welsh Arts Council.



The Undivided set out to fulfil their ambition of breaking with the norm to deliver truly poignant, meaningful and moving songs through expert musicianship and honest lyricism. So much so, they secured a sync placement for the instrumental version of Headlights from the previous album This New Day on the opening and closing credits of BBC 4 Royal Institute Christmas Lectures.

Sisteray

Sisteray have been making big waves in the indie/garage rock scene since forming in 2012 however 2014 was a breakthrough year for the London four-piece and 2015 looks to continue in that vein. They're big favourites here in the kennel and regulars on Ralph's Indie Show on Radio KC.






Previously, working with producer Michael Smith (12 Dirty Bullets) at RnR Studios, the Sisteray debut EP She Likes The Drama was released on digital format back in February 2014, with praise from Ralph, Jim Gellatly, This Feeling, Music Week, XFM, RTE Radio, Louder Than War, Merc Clothing, Time Out and The Londonist. 








The EP followed a successful debut Double A side single by Sisteray, Take It Away / Happy Endings back in August 2013, which was championed by the likes of Gary Crowley of BBC London 94.9 fame.

Well big news just announced by Sisteray is the release of No Escape on Monday 16th of March. It's a no nonsense look life in modern day London for your working class 'twenty-something'. 

It's dystopian lyrics are juxtaposed with a poppy, guitar driven soundtrack that's been co-produced by Brian O'Shaugnessey and Andrew Winters. The video was filmed and directed by BFI award winner William De Ritter.





No surprise then that this catchy 'poptastic' offering has already been played by Simon Raymonde and Jim Gellatly on Amazing Radio as well as XFM, Radio London 94.9 and Fred Perry Subculture.

Unlike the hapless hero of the No Escape video these shiny bright young things are most certainly going places!

     Live Dates:

        11/03 - Talking Head - Southampton

    17/03 - The Fat Fox - Portsmouth

21/03 - Old Brown Jug - Stoke

      28/03 - Billericay Town FC - Essex

 1/04 - Club Kamikaze - London

The Phantoms

Ralph's been a big fan of Edinburgh band The Phantoms since he covered them back in April last year after they played a set at the Ralph's Life CD Launch in Electric Circus for the Rethink Mental Illness charity. They've since played a succession of gigs including the one and only King Tut's in Glasgow.

He's played their single Revolution a few times now on his Radio KC Sunday Show along with a few of their other tracks and they featured in his 2014 Top 100 tracks. Good news is, The Phantoms have released Wasting Time as a single with video and it's a great follow up to the anthemic Revolution.

Focusing on their driving guitar sound backed by thumping drumming and strong vocals it's a fair bet Scotland's DJ's will be pricking their ears up and The Phantoms will again see some serious air play.

No wonder XFM's Jim Gellatly was quoted as saying - "Soaring atmospheric Britpop -What Oasis would have sounded like if they'd listened to The Doors rather than The Beatles." 

Catch them live if you can as they support Cold Ocean Lies in King Tut's on the 14th of March. The Phantoms are Ralph's 'ones to watch' for 2015.




Wasting Time takes their sound to a whole new gritty level, acompanied by a powerful vocal as The Phantoms are very quickly proving to be Scotland's answer to Catfish and The Bottlemen. 

The Phantoms must be favourites for T in The Park's T Break stage this year (Ralph predicted it for The Vigo Thieves three years ago and they've never looked back since).

The Inkhearts

North West band The Inkhearts are due to release two tracks - Temper Temper and Uptight - by digital download on November 17th of this very year.

The Inkhearts formed in 2010 when the members, then young teenagers, were introduced to each other at a music tuition initiative at The Engine Rooms, Skelmersdale.





  

Originally a seven piece, it was only when three original members left that the band found their sound and started to write and gig more seriously. 

With three members aged just eighteen and one aged nineteen, The Inkhearts’ music is full of enthusiasm and teenage energy yet it's underlined by a songwriting ability that belies their youth.








 Citing influences typical of their young years like The Vaccines, Two Door Cinema Club and The Libertines, the band seem well versed in the art of mainstream indie pop and their intricately layered tracks have a degree of individualism due to their North Western roots that sets their sound apart, giving them an identity all of their own.

Their last single 'Keeping Up', described by XFM Scotland's Jim Gellatly as a ‘cracking track’, was produced by The Farm’s Carl Hunter and Gary Westhead at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool. The single received widespread airplay across the UK, Europe and America and was chosen as Janice Long's BBC Radio 2 Janice Loves track plus was selected by Artrocker for inclusion in their New Blood feature.







Following on from the excellent Keeping Up which was their last single release, Temper Temper is a bouncy, pop fuelled track reminiscent of another North West band and long time favourites of Ralph,The Lottery Winners. Uptight is slightly moodier lyrically but none the less listenable with choppy guitar and Northern infused vocal.

If they steadily improve in this vein they'll continue to garner more airplay and industry attention in the months to come. 2015 is looking like it'll be a great year for The Inkhearts.

The video below for Keeping Up was shot by students at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk.

Sisteray - She Likes The Drama

Sisteray have been making big waves in the indie/garage rock scene since forming in 2012 however 2014 seems to be a breakthrough year for the London four-piece.  

Working with producer Michael Smith (12 Dirty Bullets) at RnR Studios, the Sisteray debut EP ‘She Likes The Drama’ was released on digital format back in February, with praise from Ralph, Jim Gellatly, This Feeling, Music Week, XFM, RTE Radio, Louder Than War, Merc Clothing, Time Out and The Londonist. 







The EP followed successful debut single by Sisteray, Take It Away / Happy Endings (Double A-Side) in August 2013, which was championed by the likes of Gary Crowley (BBC London 94.9).

Big news just announced by Sisteray that will interest vinyl fetishists is that the band will release a limited edition, 300 copy run of ‘She Likes The Drama’ on 12” vinyl on the 27th of this month through Grebo Records. They've teamed up with London based Modernist artist, Terry Grant, for a unique illustrated recreation of the original CD cover. 





To coincide with that, they're also releasing new single 'Rollin' Over' for free, along with B-side 'Accelerated Culture'

They recently played their third This Feeling Club Night in association with XFM and SummerJam with Reverend and the Makers and have now announced the dates below.

LIVE DATES:

07/08 - Young Leaders Festival 

09/08 - Enterprise London

23/08 - SummerJam Festival

30/08 - Wigan Live Festival

13/09 - Sebright Arms London