After 10 years of relentless touring with Skinny Lister, Sam Brace finally arrived home after his final international run supporting The Interrupters across Canada and North America in November 2019. There was one thought in his mind – it’s time to do something solo. But, how to do it? Little known to him, Covid 19 was about to strike and provide the perfect opportunity to begin experimenting. As lockdown 1 commenced, an old friend (Adam Tarry, who had been in bands with Sam at school), got in touch out of the blue with a video of him playing a Longpigs track on guitar. Sam replied with a short vid of an old track they had written together years earlier and a conversation was begun that would lead to the bones of Panic being sent from Ad to Sam. After some days playing with the idea, the final song was built and a new song writing partnership was born.

With 5 studio albums under his belt in Skinny Lister and The Alps, Sam is excited to take the first step towards doing things his way in releasing a debut single and then album later in 2021.

The Honeyrunners, announce the worldwide debut of their new single, “Ghosts”, set for release Friday, August 20 on streaming services and radio stations in countries around the world. Ghosts is a mashup of New Orleans second line and Neo-Pop. The music is rooted in a bouncy rhythm, stitched together by Southern slide guitar, stride piano, and horn blasts teasing listeners’ sanity in a quilt of production that only grows more chaotic as the track rolls on. It is an apt taste of the rollercoaster-of-a-record to come: Everything Is On Fire (Oct 22 – Gypsy Soul Records // Warner Music Canada // FUGA // Proper Music Group), The Honeyrunners’ first full-length album.

Delivering a fiery cocktail of grunge dynamics and punk rock attitude with double-shots of romance and decadence, Cruel Hearts Club’s early singles ‘Dirty Rotten Scum’ and ‘Hey Compadre’ have earned early tastemaker acclaim plus airplay from Radio 1 and Radio X. The next step in their ascendancy comes as they unleash their debut EP ‘Trash Love’ on August 20th, which will be released alongside a charismatic performance video for its lead single ‘Sink This Low’.

If you’re considering signing up to the Cruel Hearts Club, ‘Sink This Low’ is the perfect introduction. Instantly commanding your attention with its vitriolic Distillers-meets-Bikini Kill attack, ‘Sink This Low’ boasts a barbed bubblegum pop hook from sisters Edie (vocals, guitar) and Gita Langley (vocals, guitar, bass, synths), with a T-Rex stomp and a bluesy undercurrent. As with the rest of the ‘Trash Love’ EP, the track was recorded during hasty and hedonistic sessions at The Albion Rooms, Margate with producer Carl Barât.

“It’s about people fucking you over, but now the tables have turned,” says Edie. “We’ve been playing it live for ages, but it took on a new energy when we re-recorded it at The Albion Rooms.”

The rest of the ‘Trash Love’ EP keeps the intensity at fever pitch. ‘Animal’ is every bit as feral as its title suggests, but with taut disco beats from drummer Gabi Woo and sweeping cinematic strings infusing its grit with glam. There’s a more reflective tone to the power-pop stylings of ‘Dirty Rotten Scum’, a song that Edie describes as feeling “very close to our lives, with a little glitter on top.” They cap the EP with the emotionally charged, single-take performance of ‘Where Has The Summer Gone?’ – an ode to a troubled friend who is no longer with them.

The EP’s livewire energy reflects the band’s passion for raw, intense and uninhibited music that’s entirely authentic to who they are. But it’s also the product of circumstance. With seven children between the three band members, Cruel Hearts Club schedule their band activity around the needs of their families, making them work faster and more intensely than their contemporaries.

It proves that motherhood doesn’t have to be the end of ambition, especially in the context of music. “I know of women in bands that are mothers, but they’re usually the ones that were famous before having a baby,” explains Edie. “I feel proud that I’m able to talk about my kids. It doesn’t mean that you’re too old, or that you’ve missed your chance. It’s important that we’re all allowed to express ourselves musically.”

The elder of the two sisters, Gita grew up on a commune in Norfolk but the family has relocated to a more conventional life in Derbyshire by the time Edie was born – or as conventional as a ten-person family supported by an ocarina craftsman can be expected to be. They both first explored music through classical training, with Gita particularly excelling as she went on to study violin at the Royal Academy of Music.

In the years that followed, whether individually or together, the sisters collaborated with the likes of Lou Reed, Muse and The Streets. But the appeal of firing up the amps and channelling their talents into something more visceral was irresistible, leading them to form Cruel Hearts Club with Gabi Woo in 2019. They’ve already supported Sting, who is now a long-term supporter, as well as Iggy Pop and The Libertines. Their next aim is to embark upon an extended headline tour of their own.

Cruel Hearts Club will play a huge show as openers at Heritage Live at Kenwood House, London on August 20th. They take to the stage at 3.30pm on a bill headlined by James and that also features Feeder, Maximo Park, The Snuts, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. and The Sherlocks. They’re also set to support Sting next April during his six-night residency at the London Palladium.

Ringing in the return of Scottish nightlife , The Roly Mo rejoice with an energetic tribute to missed nights out on new single “I Miss The Dancing”. Produced by Glasgow’s own Christopher Marshall (Gerry Cinnamon, The Dunts, Dead Pony) and Johnny Madden of Baby Strange, the latest offering arrives with the announcement of the band’s forthcoming EP “How It’s Been”, due out on 26th November via 7 West Music.

The accompanying video for “I Miss The Dancing” comes courtesy of Daniel Blake Visuals who shot the band in an empty SWG3 Warehouse earlier this year. The Roly Mo’s sparkling riffs permeate the vacant event space while Joe Morton relives the ups and downs of nights out past while grappling with the live-music-less reality of the last 16 months.

WATCH “I MISS THE DANCING” VIDEO HERE

With a sold-out headline show at famed Scottish venue King Tuts Wah Wah Hut on 20th August under their belt already, the fast rising four piece are delighted to be back on the road, revealing a string of shows with This Feeling in Stockton and Manchester,  and in London alongside labelmates and fellow Hart Media rostered band Spyres.

Recorded at Castle of Doom Studios (co-founded by Tony Doogan and Mogwai), “How It’s Been”  is the follow-up to The Roly Mo’s debut EP, T.R.M, which was released in September 2020. The introductory record earned impassioned praise from a host of underground music sites from around the world upon release. “How It’s Been” (due out 26th November 2021) is set to be The Roly Mo’s first physical release with more details on pre-orders coming soon.

For over 50 years, Valerie Holiday has been delighting audiences worldwide as the longest performing member of the successful girl group The Three Degrees, which holds the Guinness Book of World Records’ distinction of being the longest-running female vocal group in history.

In March, she released her debut album ‘In Bloom’ as a solo artist. A

lthough this is her first solo project, Holiday is no stranger to performing alone; she was a solo artist beforejoining The Three Degrees in 1967, and has done live shows by herself over the years in between the group’s tour dates.

She said her project is titled “In Bloom” because it’s her first solo album; and the cover features a slightly opening peony flower because she feels like a flower blooming by sharing this collection of songs.  Regarding the material that Holiday chose to record, she turned to standards because she ‘absolutely loves lyrics’ and wanted to cover such classic songs the way she felt them, not the way a record label told her to. (Holiday has the latitude to do this because she, as opposed to a record label, is in “sole control of” the album, a venture that she calls ‘scary yet freeing.’) The standards that she put her spin on are rooted in love, as she wanted the album to have an “intimate feel,” taking you through the different stages of a relationship.