A big sound with big hearts is what you experience with Preston’s ‘Underdogs’. A call to arms and rousing anthems are on the agenda for this stadium band in the making - it’s U2 without the knobhead and taking influence from the Futureheads generation.
What Underdogs do so well, is create a gang mentality in their songs. Take a track like ‘The Blue Light’, which is obviously quite a personal song but they open it up to everyone. It draws you in and makes you understand exactly what’s going on without confusion and over complicating the issues. An example of that ‘people’s anthem’ vibe can be found on their single ‘Angel on Your Shoulder’, with its building tempo and crowd chanting chorus. It is simply a case of closing your eyes and you'll already be able to see this being sung on the terraces of a football ground as they take to the stage of Wembley Stadium. A slight exaggeration I hear you say, but it’s a belief system they have created all by themselves - they are a band you can trust and have faith in. There are not enough bands in this day and age that can ignite that sort of passion, but give Underdogs just one chance and they will make sure you’ll start wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Their single ‘Angel on Your Shoulder’ is available to download now, for more info head on over to theirMySpace
Elephant Stone get with the program and do the 'Sourmash' 10 question challenge...
1. Hi Elephant Stone! Firstly can I say what a great show it was at The Macbeth in London, you guys sounded magical. Has it always been an ambition to get over to the UK and do some shows? We love the UK. All our favourite music came from here... Beatles, The Who, Kinks, Teenage Fanclub, Cornershop.... this list goes on!
2. With the recent release of your glorious EP, The Glass Box, did anything in particular inspire the songwriting process? I guess the birth of my daughter was a big inspiration. Also, I wanted to see if I could write and record a record in a month; The Seven Seas took a while to put together, so I wanted to do something more immediate.
3. You hear bands talk about how their local towns/cities play a big part in their music, has Montreal been an influence on you guys? Montreal has definitely been a big influence on us. There's so much music and arts in Montreal, so it has definitely left it's imprint on us.
4. I believe The Glass Box was recorded entirely on analogue, how did that come about and what was the experience like? The engineer, David Smith, and I wanted to do a very raw and real recording. It's been a while since I recorded all analog. So, basically, this ep was a huge experiment for me: write it in two weeks and record/mix in the next two weeks... just like they did in the ‘60s. Also, I wanted to have a limit and on we could add to the recording by only using 16 tracks for the recording process.
5. Rishi, it says on the bands MySpace that you are a multi-instrumentalist, what do you play? in the band I play bass, sitar, guitar. I also play some tabla (very poorly) and keyboards (also poorly).
6. I obviously saw the inclusion of live sitar playing from yourself Rishi, what is it about classical Indian music that you like so much? I grew up with classical Indian music... so playing the sitar was a natural progression. I've been taking lessons for the last 10 years. The thing that grabs me about classical music is that it is so different from rock'n'roll (very meticulous and requires a lot of focus), but at the same time, it shares a lot of the raw passion.
7. There is obviously a strong psychedelic influence in your music, what Psych bands inspire you guys the most? Pretty Things, Beatles, Who, Flaming Lips, Kinks
8. Am I right in thinking that the name Elephant Stone is a nod to The Stone Roses? If so, have British Indie bands been an influence on the band? I'm a huge stone roses fan. However, I originally wanted to call the band "Elephan", but there's already a band with that name. I have a stone statue of Ganesha at home... and the name "Elephant Stone" came up... very simple word association. Also, the stone roses reference didn't hurt.
9. Being immersed in the Montreal music scene, are there any bands/artists that you feel deserve a mention? The Besnard Lakes are definitely my favourite Montreal band.
10. So what is next for Elephant Stone? More music, more shows. Would be great to do another UK/Euro tour in the fall!
