INTERVIEW - Sunday Girl

The music video for your song Stop Hey is very stylish and you were also named Vogue.com’s ‘one to watch’ - is the visual aspect of your music important to you?

I love looking stylish and dressing up so the video was great fun to film.  I like coming up with cool visual themes to go along with my music, so for this video I went with the idea of ‘superstition’ and had lots of umbrellas open indoors.

Are the 80s a big influence on you?  You covered Laura Branigan’s big 1984 hit Self Control.

I wouldn’t say so in particular, it’s just a song I always really enjoy playing live – I do a cover of Ke$ha’s Tik Tok too and they both get a great response from the crowd!

There are a lot of strong, female singers around at the moment; did you feel you consciously had to make your own stamp on the scene?

You’ve got to be unique – Everyone’s the same otherwise and it’s boring. I’m just myself.

You played a load of festivals over the summer; how does that compare to the smaller, more intimate venues you’ve played on Ellie Goulding’s tour?

I prefer smaller venues like this as it’s dark and more atmospheric.  It really ties in well with my music and I think the audience get a sense of that too.  You get a really great vibe going.

You have an internet blog that you post updates on – Do you think it’s important to keep in contact with your fans in this way?

Definitely!  It’s great to get feedback from fans and I really enjoy doing the blog.  I haven’t had as much of a chance recently because of being so busy with the tour, but I’ve got loads of stuff to add to it now, which will be fun!

Do you feel having a career in music has changed you in any way as a person?

I feel more confident as an artist; a lot braver.  I’ve got a motto that is ‘If you don’t try, you don’t get’, and it’s true.  You’ve just got to keep trying and you get more and more confident in yourself, especially when you’re doing something you enjoy.  In your dreams, you can do anything you want, so why shouldn’t this be true in real life too.

In this age of downloads and people cherry-picking individual songs, is it still important to put a consistent album together as a complete body of work?

I still love listening to albums as a whole – I think it really gets the artist’s message across in a way individual songs can’t do as much.

Is there one song in the history of music that you wish you had written yourself?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one!  I think something by Beyonce, Kelis or Kanye West – I love them!  Whenever I listen to their tracks I just think wow!

Stop Hey is released January 11^th 2011.

Ellie Goulding - Live at the Reading Hexagon

Ellie Goulding

26^th November 2010

Reading Hexagon

Ellie Goulding really is the success story of the year and tonight’s gig is the affirmation of that success.  “We love you Ellie!” scream various members of the crowd, working themselves into a frenzy as the cheery, young songstress works her way through the hits of her brilliant No. 1 album Lights.  Pounding out a drum beat herself to the opening bars of the dancey, seductive Under The Sheets, Ellie even manages to work in a little dancing too.

There’s a real sense of a bond between singer and audience here, playing off each-other’s energy.  For many of the songs Ellie plays acoustic guitar, and her vocals are always note perfect.  Her talent is undeniable, and even better, she comes with bucketloads of charm too – between songs Ellie chats to the audience, almost not quite able to believe everyone in the room is there for her.  From the sweet balladry of The Writer to her fantastic cover of Elton John’s Your Song, (currently doing the rounds on John Lewis TV adverts) all eyes are on her.

Come the gig’s triumphant finale, the crowd’s voices fill the Hexagon, singing along to the dreamy Starry Eyed as Ellie cries “I’m feeling sexy, let’s move!”  All this contributes to a new, more glossy, more confident Ellie Goulding.  When I saw her play the Shepherd’s Bush Empire back in the summer, her fame was still very much in the ascendency – she was the rising star.  But now, coming to the end of a full UK tour, we have the complete, fully fledged star.  And she’s amazing.

Kilto Take

Kilto Take are one of those new artists that have you hooked from the off, the skill and musicianship of this three-piece evident right away as you dive into the dark, glossy immaculateness of their music. Tracks like the brilliant Retrogress see them at their best; high-tempo, frenetic guitars, a brilliant chorus and an atmospheric production gloss that immediately impresses.

Imagine a perfect blend of early 80s post-punk with the modern innovation of its successors like White Lies and Interpol. It’s intelligent music for an audience bored of the endless cheap Libertines clones of a few years ago. And Kilto Take’s killer edge? They deliver every time. Ava is another brilliant slice of the band’s sound, razor sharp guitar solos painting pictures of grim, urban landscapes on a cinematic scale.

Lead singer Jon Crosby’s vocals ring clear and true above the immaculate guitar lines. Bringing to mind touches of Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and Muse’s Matt Bellamy, they capture that same awe-inspiring theatrical edge, adding an epic quality to the band’s tracks. There’s a luxurious power to these songs that simply isn’t present in so many up and coming rock bands. Kilto Take are a band for who wear their ambition clearly on their sleeve, and the music is all the stronger for it.

Check out the band's music on their MySpace page here.

You can download their debut EP on iTunes here.

Candidate23 - One For You

Hailing from Runcorn on the outskirts of Liverpool and with their band name a reference to post-punk legends Joy Division, this teenage five-piece mix youthful energy with a keen sense of melody on their feisty debut single One For You.  Lead singer Will Hayes’ vocals are full of emotion; lines like “Never look back” and “Put your past away” surely striking a chord with all of us.  So often song lyrics seem cheap and disposable, a cheesy mish-mash of clichés; but here, we’re made to feel every word.   And then there’s the guitar hooks that bands twice their age would be proud of.  All the ingredients for a brilliant song are here and One For You represents a stellar beginning for the band.  They even have a fascinating link to pop royalty; drummer Jono Tringham is the cousin of Girls Aloud’s very own Nicola Roberts. Talent clearly runs in the family.

The band describe their sound as a blend between Oasis and the Stereophonics, and it’s a pretty spot-on comparison – Candidate23 carry that same boyish swagger paired with the intelligence and lyrical skill to mark them out as more than just the next bunch if indie clones.  In a world where young rock groups are ten-a-penny, Candidate23 have the skill and musicianship to lift them a cut above the rest, their songs playing loud and clear to the masses.

Linkin Park - Live at the O2 Arena

Linkin Park

11^th November 2011

O2 Arena, London

London’s O2 Arena was made for bands like Linkin Park.  50 million albums sold worldwide, two Grammy Awards... the list of accolades racked up by the band since their ground-breaking debut album Hybrid Theory hit the shelves back in 2000 goes on and on.  And now, ten years on, they remain as big as ever; an international music giant centred around the dynamic duo that lies at the band’s heart - Enter Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington, the former’s lightning-quick raps paired with the latter’s impassioned vocals and guttural screams making for a combo that rocks the venue to its core.  Where their contemporaries have long since fallen by the wayside, Linkin Park remain, standing tall.   And judging by the packed out O2 arena, they still command just as much attention now as when Hybrid Theory went four-times platinum a decade ago.

The set consists mainly of tracks from the band’s two most recent albums; ‘concept’ works that see the band exploring themes of nuclear apocalypse and war, moving away from their rap-metal beginnings to a more traditional alternative-rock sound.  It was a move that alienated many fans, but it gave the band scope to expand their repertoire into previously unexplored areas, whether it be the emotive balladry of Shadow of the Day or the rough and ready punkiness of Given Up.

Most importantly though, despite the shift in the band’s musical direction, the quality of their songs remains; still possessing that unique ‘Linkin Park’ sound, still focused around brilliant melodies and heartfelt lyrics.   It is the band’s earliest material that gets the crowd going the most though, classic singles like In the End and One Step Closer filled with seemingly endless levels of energy, the audience breaking out into miniature mosh-pits, bodies colliding against each-other with wild abandon as the songs’ reach their climax.

The staging is refreshingly minimal – most acts, taking to a venue as large as the O2 Arena, would lavish thousands of pounds on immense lightshows and props– but Linkin Park are content to let the music do the talking, packed tightly onto a small stage that if anything, serves only to emphasise the band’s enthusiasm all the more.  Scattered throughout the show are grainy, distorted videos dug up from the archives of American history, including Oppenheimer’s famous “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” quote.   It’s minimalistic and chilling touches like this, that when mixed into Linkin Park’s music, hold more power than any amount of flames, fireworks and lasers ever could.

McFly - Shine A Light

One song I’m particular loving at the moment is McFly’s brilliant new single Shine A Light. Ever since the band went all electro with the boundless energy of Party Girl, I’ve had a newfound respect for the boys. They’ve kept the youthful spirit of their early days, but combined it with a new ‘knowing’, a new intelligent and some absolutely cracking melodies.

Shine A Light illustrates this perfectly. And even better, it’s got Taio Cruz on it too. Now, when i first heard Party Girl, its sound struck me as very ‘Taio’, so it seems only right McFly are now working with him. And together these two stalwarts of British pop music have come up with a pure winner of a track. Its strength comes in its relative simplicity, the track is very ‘clean’, all breezy and light – in many ways a breath of fresh air in a world of music where tracks have become so production heavy you often feel like you’re drowning in them.

The chorus is sublime, the melody moving and powerful in equal measure. And then there’s delicate little touches like the echoing guitar hook that bookends the song, or the twinkling piano that plays gently over the end of the track. It’s things like this that revitalise McFly, shooting them out as a force that is very much still to be reckoned with.

Ellie Goulding - Your Song

There’s always a danger when covering well known songs that you lay yourself open to a torrent of abuse and anger from fans of the original track. But every so often comes along a cover that is almost universally loved, and Ellie Goulding’s charming version of Elton John’s Your Song is one such track.

Away from the beats and electronic wizardry that typifies the sound of Goulding’s album, Your Song  lets her vocals shine through and highlights just what a talented singer she actually is. It’s sensitive, full of longing and emotion – the perfect song then for the winter season. It’s a shot of warmth on biting cold days, just the kind of tonic we can all use from time to time. And fronting up the current series of John Lewis adverts on TV, it’s been given the kind of exposure most artists can only dream of. This Christmas, everyone seems to be a winner.

Taio Cruz & Kylie Minogue - Higher

Taio Cruz’s ‘Break Your Heart’ was a piece of sheer fantastic pop joy, and although ‘Dynamite’ did eventually come to grow on me, it never sounded anywhere near the level of amazingness of the former track. So ‘Higher’ comes with a massive sigh of relief, it’s Taio Cruz bang on the money, working his songwriting magic into a track that has got Number 1 written all over it.

Now, the song itself is fantastic in its own right, but add in the ever-wonderful pop princess Kylie Minogue and things go off the scale. ‘Higher’ is one of those tracks that is simply SO good. It demands you to listen again, again and again. The chorus is about as infectious as you could possibly create within the realms of natural science. Kylie’s vocals slot in effortlessly next to Taio’s, seeing a cool return to the R&B side of things she dabbled in for her much underated ‘Body Language’ album.

And then we’ve got the brilliant video, which is just as sleek, glossy and cool as the song itself (although it could be argued it is just one massive advert for BMW). Either way, we absolutely LOVE Higher.

Watch the video by clicking here

Starlings - Weight In Gold

Starlings explode onto your stereo with a blistering blend of glossy synths, Duran Duran-esque basslines and the energy to match any of their contemporaries. Weight In Gold is a stunning debut for the Sheffield based band, the track hypnotising in its beauty and the shimmering catchiness of its chorus before tripping effortlessly into a twinkling guitar solo.

Fans of New Order and Delphic will find lots to love here, but what marks Starlings out in their own right is the organic feel to their music; it feels alive, fresh, more ‘human’. The band’s Facebook page describes them as ‘cosmic indie funk’, and there really could be no more perfect description than that. All the elements are there, capturing the essence of why Starlings hold so much potential to appeal to the masses.

There is most definitely a sense of ‘spaciness’ to there songs, that feeling of a fast expanse that their music flows into, a space of unlimited potential just waiting to be tapped into. ‘It’s a long, long way to fall, when you hover above us all’: a snatch of lyrics from the chorus, and when the Starlings sound as good as this, we’re all ready to fall further and further alongside them.

Released 20th December

The Pierces - Love You More

There’s an old myth about the ease and skill at which musical siblings come together.  A myth they say... but listening to Alabama sisters Allison and Catherine, that myth seems so much closer to reality.  Collectively the twosome make up The Pierces, and summed up in one word, their music is simply magical.

Imagine dark, stormy nights... howling wind and starlight, the hint of something mystical and powerful, this is the music of The Pierces.  This four track EP is headed up by the brilliant Love You More, a song wrapped in such an undeniable, natural sense of melody that you can only marvel at the sisters’ songwriting talent.  The girls have been releasing music for the past ten years but it is only now that they have been picked up by a major label and given the exposure they deserve.

If you’ve ever wondered what Elbow or The Doves would sound like with a female vocalist, The Pierces are a pretty good match.  Their tracks have that same raw energy running through them; the driving, rough guitar hook a thing that has been gripped and beaten into shape with bare hands and untamed passion.  We Are Stars represents a far more gentle sound, but still captures that same hand-crafted, baroque feel.  The duo’s lyrics are poetic gems of beauty too; ‘We are dreamers, wishing upon what we were born from’ they sing on this track.

To The Grave shows off a more jolly, upbeat side to The Pierces, highlighting that they are just at home here as with the expansive, melancholy sound that the EP begins with.  Across all four tracks though, we keep coming back to a consistent, organic feel that is testament to the skills of Coldplay’s bassist Guy Berryman lending a helping hand with production duties.  Indeed, the tracks carry that same shimmering sense of wonder that gave Coldplay’s Viva La Vida album such character.  Every song on this EP is rich and powerful; every chorus completely infectious, each track delivered with a conviction and gentleness that is utterly bewitching.

Dannii Minogue – My Story

Not many people can lay claim to a career in the music industry as varied as Dannii Minogue’s.  Over the last 20 years, she has racked up fourteen top 20 singles in the UK, collaborated with some of the hottest names in dance music and even tried her hand at musical theatre.

Her autobiography My Story captures this all in a revealing and emotional glimpse into an industry that is constantly changing and evolving.  We see Minogue slogging through the hardship of a rough & ready US promotional tour in her early days, striving for the balance between critical acclaim and commercial success as well as the intricate complexities of dealing with her management and the media.

Bookended as it were by Minogue’s beginnings on Australian TV show Young Talent Time to her current role as judge on The X Factor, My Story represents Dannii’s life coming full circle, the impassioned tale of a woman who has experienced more than most, surviving in the cut and thrust of the music industry where many others would have faltered.

Cheryl Cole - Promise This

“Alouette-ouette-ouette...”  Take the hook from a classic French nursery rhyme and transform it into a dance-pop classic.  It could only be Cheryl Cole.  And that little refrain will be stuck in your head all day. Guaranteed.  And despite Cheryl’s claims in Girls Aloud’s 2008 single Can’t Speak French, she manages to do a pretty good job of it here.  “Déployer les ailes” indeed.

Promise This sees nation’s sweetheart Cheryl doing just that, spreading her wings and building on her already considerable knack at coming up with some of the best pop music out there.  Teaming up again with songwriter Wayne Wilkins who she worked with on last year’s mega-hit Fight For This Love, her new single is all processed beats and a buzzing bassline driving away behind synthetic strings that could have come straight out of a lost 80s New Order floor-filler.  As the chorus floats in, riding on a wave of trippy piano that lends the track vibes of Ellie Goulding, Cheryl sings ‘If I die before I wake,” a line that in hindsight bears startling significance when taken into account with Cheryl’s malaria scare earlier this year.

Yet despite this potentially morbid subject matter, Promise This is brilliantly uplifting – a fitting anthem for a woman who through everything has always remained ambitious, focused and utterly driven on pursuing the career she loves.  The first single from her second album - wonderfully titled Messy Little Raindrops - the song presents a stronger, more confident Cheryl.  The energy and passion in Promise This is plain to see and the song has become another well deserved smash hit for Chezza.

Current free music offers! Ke$ha, Hannah Montana and more!

There’s a great range of free music available to download freely as part of various offers online at the moment!

You’ve got Ke$ha’s new single We R Who We R available here when you sign up to her mailing list.

Then here on Amazon you’ve got a whole host of free tracks including songs by Hannah Montana, Swedish House Mafia, OMD and Magnetic Man. Brilliant stuff!

Take That - The Flood

Every so often a song comes along that quite literally picks you up off your feet and blows you away. There are some songs that are just ‘that’ good. And for me, Take That’s new single – the first from their 6^th studio album – is one such song. Walking down the street, this song comes up on your iPod, and my God does it leave an impact. From its subtle beginnings it builds and builds, layer upon layer, to an immensely powerful crescendo.

Of course, it’d be unfair not to mention the significance of Robbie Williams’ return to the band, this is after all the band’s first single with him since his return to the group. Robbie doesn’t fail to make his presence immediately felt, adding a much needed grit to the band’s sound. Post-comeback Take That were always highly skilled at pumping out glossy, melodic guitar-edged slabs of modern pop, but with Robbie’s return on The Flood, they now reach a new level of epicness, something the brilliant accompanying video marks out perfectly.

Featuring the band in a beautifully shot rowing race down the river Thames, it feels as quintessentially British as the band itself. By the time we see the reunited fivesome making their way past London’s famous landmarks and on out into the sea, we have a perfect visual metaphor for the song’s message of triumph in the face of adversity. Quite literally ‘holding back the flood’.

And so we have Take That, returning once again, stronger than ever. With each new album since their return they have presented themselves as more glossy, more meaningful, more driven. No wonder then they set the charts alight with colossal record sales, blasting the Christmas market apart with numbers other acts can only ever dream of. And with The Flood, every single inch of that success is justified – it really is a truly magical record.

Out 15^th November

The Wanted - Made

iTunes are offering a great track from The Wanted’s debut album (which is fantastic by the way) as a free download this week and it is well worth getting your hands on. Those that think they know what the band is all about based on their first two singles will find Made refreshingly different.

Featuring a more guitar based vibe; it showcases the band’s more ‘indie’ side, coming surprisingly close to sounding like a more poppy, glossed-up version of Bloc Party at times, something that can be said for a number of tracks from the album. With husky, delicate vocals and an infectious chorus, it’s tracks like this that help make their debut LP so consistent and a standout as one of the best pop releases of the year.

Download the track from iTunes here.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Sister Marie Says

I’ve been listening to OMD’s brilliant new album History of Modern a fair bit recently, so I was rather excited to hear there’ll be a second single taken from it, coming out next month! Sister Marie Says is classic OMD, a massive synth hook propelling a track that could have come straight out of the band’s 80s heyday. And for that, the song works a treat. The band have always excelled at blending catchy melodies with quirky, witty lyrics, and this track doesn’t disappoint.

For me, it doesn’t quite reach the joyous anthemic qualities that the album’s lead single If You Want It boasted, but it’s a more than solid contribution to OMD’s stellar discography. Oooh, and the prospect of new b-sides and remixes is always rather exciting too.

Out 15^th November

INTERVIEW - Nathan Sykes from The Wanted

Hi Nathan! You and the band are all in your teens or early 20s, how did it feel having your single All Time Low get to Number 1 at such a young age?

It was crazy because we’re all fairly young and it just came from nowhere. We didn’t expect to get a number one at all; we’d have loved to have even just got top 40. The single kept going up and up on iTunes and held out through the week. It’s just crazy for all of us because we’ve been working so hard over the past year and didn’t know if it was going to pay off.

And do you still get a buzz when you hear your songs on the radio?

Definitely! We just got off a flight from America, got in the car and one of the first songs that came on was our new single Heart Vacancy. We were like ‘We’re on the radio! Turn it up, turn it up!’ So yeah, we do still go a bit mad whenever our songs come on the radio, and we probably still will do for the next ten years ha!

Your new single Heart Vacancy has got quite a different feel from All Time Low. What’s the song about?

I think it’s just about you trying to convince a girl that’s been hurt by someone that you’re not going to do the same to her. It’s basically a love song, but it’s got a good beat to it too. It’s a completely different side of us from All Time Low.

And what can we expect from the album? You’ve worked with people like Guy Chambers and Taio Cruz on it haven’t you?

Yeah we have! It’s really cool because we’ve all got different influences; we wrote about 50% of the album so we’ve all put our different backgrounds and musical influences on it. There’s one track that’s a very stripped back ballad; just piano and strings, and then there’s a few quite rocky ones too.

So you felt like you were in safe hands with these experienced songwriters then?

Yeah! We walked into the studio and were like ‘There’s Guy Chambers!’ It was quite scary for the first few days; he’s got a really dry sense of humour. Like we’ll be in the studio singing and he’ll lean in and go ‘That was... nearly there’ haha! But it’s been great working with these people, like most artists won’t ever get the opportunity to work with people this experienced in their whole career and we got to work with them on our first album so it’s pretty amazing!

As a boyband you have all these girls following you around everywhere, what’s that like?

We’re not complaining about it, not at all! We’re loving it!

With the music industry at the moment there’s all this focus on the internet – sites like Twitter and YouTube – do you feel this is a good thing?

We didn’t have any kind of instant success like some people do from the X Factor or anything so we had to really put in the groundwork, especially as it’s really hard to build a fanbase these days. So it’s great to be able to go on Twitter and talk to the fans; really communicate with them. It’s about keeping a good relationship with people who like your music and getting feedback too! We have a thing we do called ‘Wanted Wednesday’ where we post a video every Wednesday of what we’ve been up to that week and it lets all the fans know what we’ve been doing and lets them get to know our personalities which is really cool. So I think the internet side of things is definitely really important!

What’s great about you as a band is that you all feel very relaxed together – just five lads hanging out together having fun.  When you first got together you all shared a house together didn’t you?

That’s what people like about us; we’re all best mates and when we’re not working together we’re chilling together. We’ll just be watching the football or having a beer, something like that. We’re all really tight and that really helps when we’re writing music because we all know each other really well, so we know what sort of song will suit which person.

So is it quite daunting then to take that tight bond and then go out and perform to 80,000 people or so at Twickenham Stadium when you did the Help for Heroes charity concert?

I think it’d be worse if you went out there on your own but I know I’ve got the other boys there with me so I’m usually alright. For some reason I don’t get as nervous as everyone else. I think that’s the best thing though, all this hard work we’re putting in and getting opportunities to do stuff like that. It was an absolute pleasure doing that gig because it’s for such a great charity.

You work with Brian Friedman on your choreography and at that gig you came onstage bursting from a giant box before pulling out smoke flares; is it important to have that visual aspect to a performance too?

I think so yeah! It was like the first massive production we’d done and we were quite worried we’d get part of it wrong, like break our hand on the box or something ha! It was quite crazy but it’s definitely something we look forward to because it just gives you that extra boost of adrenaline.

So could we see this kind of thing expanded into a tour once your album is out?

Hopefully! If people want to come see us then we’re happy to tour! So that’s going to be really exciting and hopefully we can put on a really good show for them. We’ll be working really hard to give the fans something extra than what they’re getting on the album.

Recently you and the guys have been appearing in the style sections of quite a few magazines, did you expect this kind of focus on your ‘look’ when you entered the industry?

I think there’s that extra kind of emphasis on what you wear but we don’t go out there with the aim to stick to a certain image. We just wear what we normally wear on a day to day basis. We’ll just go into our wardrobe and pick out a few things and then wear that for a gig or whatever. Obviously we have a stylist to give us a bit of advice now and then but that’s it really.

At the moment there’s only really you and JLS in the boyband market so do you think this gives you a lot of freedom to do your own thing?

I think so yeah! It’s quite open at the moment; obviously there’s JLS doing their thing – and doing it really well – but they’ve got more of an R&B feel to them. We’re just going to keep on doing our own thing and hope people enjoy it.

And to finish off, if you had to describe The Wanted in just three words, what would those three words be?

Oooh! Hmmm.... ‘Pretty Mental People’! Haha!

The Wanted’s new single ‘Heart Vacancy’ is out now, followed by their debut album out 25^th October.

INTERVIEW - Frankie Sandford from The Saturdays

Hiya Frankie!

Hi!

Your new album Wordshaker has just come out - I was wondering, to kick things off, in what ways do you think it’s different from your first album?

Well... I hate it when bands say ‘oh, we’ve grown up’, but I think it is a little bit of an older sound.  You can still tell it’s us, but whereas before we were kind of ‘becoming’ the Saturdays, now we are them, and we know what kind of sound we want.   I think you can kind of tell that from the album – what we’re all about. All the songs are like a bigger sound, bigger choruses, catchy.  We’re really happy with it.

You do a lot of stuff for your fans in terms of signings, competitions and videos on your website.  Do you think it’s important to stay in touch with the fans like that?

Definitely!  From when we first started out, I think that’s kind of been one of the main reasons for how successful we’ve been.  People actually know who we are and fans feel like they can actually talk to us.  Especially nowadays with everything being internet based, it’s really important to keep that up.  It’s nice for fans as they feel like they get to talk to us, and it’s nice for us as well as we get to see what they think.

According to your press release, you’ve possibly got your eyes on international success, is that something which is important to you as a band, aiming for other markets?

Yes, definitely.  We’ve always wanted to do really well and try and aim to be as good as we can. For us, we really want to make sure we make our mark on the UK because it’s where we’re all from.  But equally, it’s nice for a band to go international and do well.  We’ve always said from the start, world domination!  We hope eventually we’ll be as big as we are here in other countries.

So, what’s an average day as a member of The Saturdays like?  What do you usually get up to?

Every day is different!  If we’ve got a single out, it’s hectic – we’ll fit four TV shows in to one day.  It doesn’t sound like much, but those days can be quite long.  On a day like that that, it’s pretty mental - We’re always nagging to fit in lunchtime!  It’s good though, we like being busy.

Have you got used to coping with fame then?  Paparazzi and stuff like that.

We don’t really see ourselves as famous really. I can still walk down the street and no-one will notice me, so it’s quite nice I can kind of get the best of both worlds.  With the paparazzi we only really get it when we’re on a night out all together or when we’re at a gig or something.  They can be pretty hardcore and sometimes it can get a bit much, but they’re not following us home yet or anything so I don’t think we’ve got too much to complain about.

Now, the big question all the fans want to know – have you got a new tour lined up?

We’re not sure yet, we’re hoping maybe next year we’ll have a tour at some point.

They want a DVD of it too!

If we ever get to do an arena tour then we’ll probably do a DVD.  We want a DVD too, we want to be able to watch it!

So what bands/singers are you liking at the moment then?

I really like Kids In Glass Houses – And Paramore!  They’re my favourite band!

So you’re a bit of a rock chick then eh?

I guess so!  I went to see Green Day recently.  I’ve always liked them but never been to see them.  People we’re going mental about them and I went and watched them and they were amazing!

You’ve got your new single Ego coming out on December 14^th and you get a lot of Christmas songs re-entering the charts around that time - Do you have a favourite Christmas song?

I really like them all.  Mariah Carey is an obvious one I guess.  Aww, I love Christmas songs!

We’ve got Halloween coming up too! – What would be your ideal Halloween outfit for a party?

Well, it’s Vanessa’s birthday today, so we’re all going out for it tomorrow and its fancy dress and I haven’t got an outfit yet!

Mollie’s got her Baywatch outfit hasn’t she?

Yeah, she’s being Baywatch.  Me and Dougie were thinking of going as the twins from X Factor!  But I don’t know where I’m going to get a shiny red jacket from.

So, as this interview is for the student newspaper, say if you went to university, what kind of subject do you think you’d do?

Well, I was going to go to uni at one point and I was thinking of doing Music Management. I thought for myself it would be good to know what someone’s meant to be doing, and one day I’d quite like to be a manager... when nobody wants me anymore ha!

Now, students of course love their drink.  What’s your alcoholic drink of choice if you’re going out?

I’m a massive lightweight so I don’t really drink much, but I always have rosé with lemonade, that’s about it.  Or Baileys, but that’s not really a ‘night out’ drink.

So, you and all the girls use Twitter a lot.  What do you think is its main appeal?  Why has it got so big this year?

I think it’s because it’s kind of like an instant update on what your favourite people are doing.  I follow Hayley Williams from Paramore and I mainly read hers.  I mean, it’s weird... why do you really want to know what they’re doing? - It’s quite interesting in a way!  But I’m not really sure quite what it is about it, haven’t figured it out yet ha!

Last year you and the girls had a guest role in Hollyoaks Later, can you see any other acting roles coming up?

I dunno... I hope not!  I mean, i’m not an actress, i’m in a band, and there’s a reason for that.  I find it quite embarrassing.  It’s bad enough doing a video and having to repeat yourself, but having to say your lines 20 times is a bit of a killer.

This is a bit of a random one!  If you could date any female celeb, who would it be?

Megan Fox!  And Angelina Jolie – don’t even have to think about it!

For me it’d be Cheryl Cole every time.

Aww, you gotta love Chezza!

Do you get tempted by fast food a lot? When you’re out on the road and stuff I’m guessing you do.

Oh yes!  It’s terrible!  I love a takeaway.  McDonald’s is like one of those things, you really fancy it and then you have it and you feel like absolute crap.  It’s not cool.  But I do love fast food.

If you’re going out with your mates, what would you say are the key ingredients to a good night out?

I always think if you really organise the night it isn’t as good.  I think it’s one of those things than can really go either way.  You can either be really not in the mood to go out, and then you go out and have a great night – or you can just go out and have the worst time ever.  I think as well, if you’re with a good group of people it doesn’t really matter where you go, you’re with people you know you’re going to have a laugh with.

Hot Chip, Bernard Sumner & Hot City - Didn't Know What Love Was

Quirky electronic hit-makers Hot Chip and New Order frontman Bernard Sumner - from the opening bars of this track (an exclusive free download from converseblog.com), you know it’s a combo made in heaven.

Trippy piano chords and retro synths abound in this dancey slice of pop joy that could have come straight out of the early 90s. Sumner’s vocals gel perfectly with Hot Chip’s and the chorus is insanely catchy, transporting you away to drink laced neon nights and the glamour of the dancefloor.

Didn’t Know What Love Was is easily a contender for the best thing Hot Chip have put their name to and equally, it’s refreshing to see such a musical icon as Sumner fitting in so effortlessly with a new musical generation. He’s certainly lost none of the spark that saw him propell New Order to the upper reaches of the charts time and time again in the 80s and 90s. Oh, and did we forget to mention that this track is free to download? Definitely one to get your hands on.

Out now

The Saturdays - Headlines

Do you know what I love about The Saturdays? They’re fun. Anyone who’s seen their recent ITV2 documentary series will understand the sheer sense of enthusiasm and happiness that seems to infuse everything Rochelle, Mollie, Frankie, Una and Vanessa do. And that includes their music. So, when the time came for the girls to release their third album, you’d be inclined to expect a glossy collection of life affirming, joyous pop anthems. And with Headlines, that is exactly what you get.

Where the album succeeds is that it is in fact a kind of greatest hits/new studio album blend. Previous hits like the rocky Forever Is Over and hands in the air glory of Ego meet with a smattering of new tracks to ensure a snappy finished product – what Headlines lacks in length, it more than makes up for in quality. Consistency is a rare thing for an album to pull off, but here The Saturdays have achieved it, and in many ways the album’s shortness ensures your attention right from end to start.

Lead single Missing You is insanely good, Frankie’s trippy autotuned intro leading into a track that is as much dancefloor stormer as it is a heart-aching story of love. If it’s epic you want, then Died In Your Eyes has it in bucketloads. A ballad of colossal proportions; the chorus is deliriously uplifting, the girls’ vocals shining over soaring piano chords before the song erupts into a full-on singalong chant that is simply made for stadiums.

A tweaked version of One Shot, a standout track from their previous album rounds off the album and if there’s any song to sum up The Saturdays in three and a half minutes of pop perfection, it’s this one. In a world of music that is increasingly fickle and ever-changing, The Saturdays have more than made their mark, putting down their stamp with yet another album chock full of brilliant pop tracks and immense choruses. These girls are definitely here to stay.

Out now

Summer memories of a favourite album...

It’s safe to say that New Order’s ‘Republic’ is in my top 10 favourite albums of all time. A couple of years ago I went on holiday to the south of France and this was one of the few albums I had on my iPod. On those long, lazy summer days, I listened to it again and again and it never grew old or boring.

Fantastically consistent, it more than deserves the Number 1 chart placing it achieved back in 1993 and sees the band striking the perfect balance between the rock/dance fusion that came to define them. Brilliant production values, well crafted lyrics and unforgettable melodies - Republic has it all. Maybe it’s the album cover itself with its image of a gloriously hot tropical beach juxtaposed against a raging fire, or maybe its the delicate lightness of the tracks themselves, but every time I listen to the album now I’m taken back to that summer of a few years ago.

The best music will always be the music that comes to mean something to you in some form or other, and for me, this album, and the lead single Regret in particular, does that more than most. And for that, it’ll always hold a special place in my heart.

Love Amongst Ruin - Love Amongst Ruin

Love Amongst Ruin, AKA Steve Hewitt from Placebo’s new band.  We all remember Placebo; those dark, angsty rockers that delighted us in the late 90s with gems like Nancy Boy and Pure Morning.  Amongst their tracks there was always a slick, modern gloss of cool lacquered over a beating heart that hinted at something much more grim and mysterious.  And so it’s only natural that Hewitt’s new efforts channel many of the same feelings and sounds.

The band’s self-titled debut album has a gritty dirtiness to it, the foreboding wash of a grey rainy day, perhaps showcased best on the sprawling seven minute long Come On Say It.  Fans of bands like The XX and The Cure will find plenty to love in the expansive and, at times, frightening soundscapes on offer here.  Whispered vocals and delicate, trembling guitar work echoes into the listener’s ears, beckoning you in - a crooked finger of promise that hints at the pleasure repeat listens will reward you with.  It’s a call you are powerless to resist.

Love Amongst Ruin are more than just another rock band, they represent a vision; a portrait of raw feeling captured in a collection of songs that as you explore further into the album manifests itself as a dramatic mix of textures and flavours.  The aforementioned down-tempo tracks stand side by side with frantic, energetic numbers.  There’s a keen sense of melody too, really shining across on the single Home in particular as a throbbing bassline builds into a snarled, anthemic chorus.  Album opener So Sad(Fade) is another definite highlight.  It’s moments like these where the band really hit their stride; coming across like a smart, polished, yet utterly sinister cousin of Nine Inch Nails or 30 Seconds to Mars.

This is not a happy album; it is one of desolation, passion and anger. But through all these emotions there always comes the consistency of excellent production values and the sound of a band that is utterly sure in themselves about what they want to create.  The result is highly refreshing in that nothing feels rushed – there are no songs here that feel like they’ve been shoved on the LP just to make up the running time.  There is none of that stagnant quality that can plague so many rock albums. Instead we have pure quality, a band with a vision and the skills to achieve it.

Out now