VITO

Hailing from Newcastle, VITO are four young men with their sights firmly set on achieving greater notoriety than just gigging around their local stomping ground in the North East.

They offer - "a 'no-frills' ethos, focusing on raw, dynamic performances" and "have a flair for compelling lyrics to accompany their upbeat riffs, creating poignant messages through tracks that pack a punch."

Not only that, VITO are taking a fiercely Indie approach by producing their debut single Masquerade themselves and available from January 13th via the fiercely Indie End Of The Trail Records.

Whilst there are no real surprises (they stick to what they know best, with a view to appealing to fans of similarly minded contemporaries) they're blending choppy guitar riffs, pleasing harmonies and a much better than average pop-esque vocal with style, therefor Masquerade sticks in your head and makes you want to go back for another listen.

VITO are: Tom Conway on vocals/guitar, Andy Bell on guitar/vocals, Ben Houlton on Bass and Dom Willis on drums.

Live performances so far for 2017 are:

O2 Academy, Newcastle

 - 27th January

Head Of Steam, Newcastle - 2nd February

The Monarch, London - 11th March

They have also been confirmed for Brighton's ever popular Great Escape Festival in May.

Elephant Memoirs

Ralph recently gave Gateshead Indie rockers Elephant Memoirs new single Mug a spin on his Radio KC Sunday Show and thought it'd be a good idea to take a look after some great feedback. 

Formed in 2013 by John Aspinall, Barry Drew and Carl Aspinall they've been working hard to create a catalogue of original material and successfully so in the case of Mug which kicks off with swirling guitar before thumping into a gritty vocal.

Elephant Memoirs have formed into a tight creative unit and are garnering no small amount of critical acclaim.








Likened to such luminaries as Biffy Clyro, Frank Turner, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Weezer the North East's Elephant Memoirs focus on a forceful guitar, bass and drum sound to to cover such diverse themes as love, prejudice, frustration and life in general. Similarities notwithstanding they're finding their own niche now.

In August of last year Elephant Memoirs hit the studios and recorded a four track demo which has gained airplay on radio stations worldwide. 

The tracks are accompanied by a selection of four original artworks by band member John.

More melodic than the likes of QOTSA their sound should see them acquire an ever increasing following both locally and beyond, especially with tracks like the punchy Dirt.








By far the strongest track of the four demos for me is was lyrically sound and melodically pleasing Champion Of The Universe.

Having individually been in several local bands previously, I'm certain as they work together and continue to develop their own sound they'll release more material and play gigs wider afield, acquiring a much wider fan-base. 

Definitely ones to watch.