The Long Blondes are a 5-piece art-rock band from Sheffield in England. They have a large underground following, with emphasis on their "glamorous punk" image, as coined by front-woman Kate Jackson. Jackson was featured in The Guardian's style section and the NME cool list. When questioned about her place in the NME list by The Guardian, Jackson remarked "Probably because they didn't have enough girls. It was so overrun with boring boys, they needed someone to bring a touch of glamour."[1]
Style
The Long Blondes' songs reflect a number of influences, including 60's pop, The Ramones, Post-punk and New Wave. The prominence of these various influences varies from song to song. Jackson's vocals have been compared to Ari Up of The Slits, Deborah Harry of Blondie and those of The Au Pairs. The music features angular guitars and prominent bass guitar lines. However, the band themselves claim somewhat more eclectic influences than their sound suggests, citing Burt Bacharach, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Chinn and Chapman, and Stock, Aitken and Waterman as influences. The band gained notoriety early on in their career for their bold proclamation "We do not listen to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors or Bob Dylan. We chose an instrument each and learnt to play it." This quote was first published on their website, and was seen as a comment on the derivative nature of the contemporary music scene.
On April 13, 2006 they signed to Rough Trade Records[1] and have been recording their debut album, Someone To Drive You Home, set for release on November 6, preceded by their second single "Once and Never Again", which is to be released on October 23rd.[2] In June 2006 they released their first single for the label, "Weekend Without Makeup", which reached number 28 in the UK singles chart. They appeared at a number of UK festivals over summer 2006, including the Carling Weekend and Ireland's Electric Picnic.
Band members
- Dorian Cox - Lead guitar and keyboards.
- Reenie Hollis - Bass guitar and backing vocals
- Emma Chaplin - Rhythm guitar, Keyboards and backing vocals
- Kate Jackson - Lead vocals
- Screech Louder - Drums
Screech Louder
Screech Louder caused controversy when he changed his name from a more tender name of Perm. He also admitted his hypocrisy in actually loving The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. Recent reports have actually doubted Screechs sexual motivation after he admitted he would sell his body for homosexual coitus for £1million.
Discography
Albums
- Someone To Drive You Home - Rough Trade (November 6th)
Singles
- Autonomy Boy (on the Angular Recording Corporation compilation: Rip Off Your Labels) - Angular Recording Corporation
- Autonomy Boy / Long Blonde (split 7" with The Boyfriends) - Filthy Little Angels
- New Idols / Long Blonde - Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation
- Giddy Stratospheres (b/w Polly and Darts) - Angular Recording Corporation
- Giddy Stratospheres" (12" EP) - What's Your Rupture?
- Appropriation (By Any Other Name) (b/w My Heart is Out of Bounds, Lust in the Movies & Peterborough) - Angular Recording Corporation
- Separated By Motorways (b/w Big Infatuation) - Good and Evil
- Weekend Without Makeup(b/w Fulwood Babylon) - Rough Trade (UK #28)
- Once and Never Again - Rough Trade (October 23rd) (UK #30)
References
- ↑ Imogen Fox: Kate Jackson, The Long Blondes. The Guardian, abgerufen am 25. Oktober 2006.