Win Tickets to The Futureheads

27th Apr 2005

Heineken Green Room Sessions presents
The Futureheads
first ever gig in Ireland
Savoy, Cork - Friday, 20th May 2005

It was announced today that The Futureheads will play their first ever gig in Ireland as the headline act in the third Heineken Green Room Session of 2005 at the Savoy, Cork on Friday, 20th May. The May gig is the second of two free invite only gigs to be held in Cork by Heineken as part of the Cork 2005: European City of Culture.

Just over 900 tickets will be available for this invitation only gig. You cannot buy ticket for the gig, you can apply for your tickets by logging onto www.heinekengreenroomsessions.ie. If you are one of the lucky applicants you and your two guests will be notified week commencing the 13th May. This gig co-incides with the launch of the Cork Cultural Capital Programme (CCCP), in association with Heineken Music. This is a series of music events to take place over the June Bank Holiday weekend. Further details will be revealed at the Heineken Green Room Session.

The Futureheads are named after the early Flaming Lips' song 'Hit To Death In The Future Head'. You could say that's where the similarity ends, save for the fact that both bands have strong lines in robot love songs.

The Futureheads debut album has recently gone gold, selling in excess of 100,000 copies in the UK to date. 2005 has proved an exciting year so far for these lads from the North East, as they've slowly but steadily edged their way further and further towards the top of their rank. A more than successful stint on the NME Awards tour, a full-blown, sell out US tour and a re-release of their LP charting at number 11, were just a few of the highlights.

'Decent Days And Nights' is The Futureheads at the peak of their powers; a choppy, Clash-y classic whose brazenly hooky guitars and chant-like vocals belie the clever stuff going on just below the surface. As with most Futureheads songs it's hard to get a true reading on what exactly they're banging on about, but the tight mesh of syllables, words and occasional animal yelps, sure is an enthralling place to get lost in. Especially, as in this instance, when the words themselves seem precisely to be about losing your bearings in this world.

The 2005 Heineken Green Room Sessions will consist of 6 invite only gigs, bringing the freshest music to the provinces.
For details of the Heineken Green Room Sessions check out www.heinekengreenroomsessions.ie

WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN

We've got 5 pairs of tickets to give away to the second Heineken Green Room Session at the Savoy on Friday May 20th.
If you are over 18 years of age simply send an email to editor@peoplesrepublicofcork.com with "the Futureheads" in the subject line with your name and a phone number. Tell us why we should give the tickets to you if you like!

Sunderland four-piece The Futureheads are both an intriguing and powerful mass of contradictions. They are a band who - like all the best bands - look and feel like a gang, but who, in this instance, can rarely agree on anything at all. A band who have deliberately set themselves only short-term, low-key goals, but are, realistically, on the verge of going all the way. A band who can accurately cite Devo, Queen and Fugazi as influences, but who have carved out their own instantly identifiable sonic niche.

Maybe it's a result of the four of them being a reasonably well-functioning democracy. And maybe that's a result of them each having a microphone and, therefore, four separate voices on stage. And possibly that came about because, having no PA, they had to have first a music and then a vocal rehearsal, and so decided they might as well each have a bash at singing. Some things about The Futureheads, you see, make straightforward sense...

Taking the best of post-punk, new wave, and pop as inspiration, Sunderland's the Futureheads were among the best of the U.K.'s "angular" movement, which also included Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. The band began as a trio of vocalist/guitarist Barry Hyde, bassist Jaff, and drummer Pete Brewis. Hyde and Brewis were tutors at a lottery-funded organization called the Sunderland City Detached Youth Project, which aimed to get kids off the street by having them play music instead. The band - whose members were still in their teens themselves - also used the building as a practice space, along with other area groups. The rest of the Futureheads' lineup was also culled from the Sunderland City Detached Youth Project: vocalist/guitarist Ross Millard and Hyde's little brother Dave, who eventually took over drums duty from Brewis. The band released its debut single in late 2002, and followed it up with two more singles in 2003, 123 Nul and First Day, both of which were issued by the Fantastic Plastic label. 679 stepped up to release the band's self-titled full-length in mid-2004. That fall, The Futureheads was released in the U.S., coinciding with the band's support slot on Franz Ferdinand's North American tour.

With a million young bands all citing the same post-punk records as their main inspiration, the Futureheads have found a niche for themselves by working from the same building blocks and creating something that rings truer than the rest. The first thing that comes to mind is that the band sound a lot like XTC did in their earliest days. Once you get past that, you can hear that they've got their own songs and ideas worming their way through this jagged, explosive, tight and highly tuneful concoction. The fact that all four members take on vocal duties and engage in some twisted harmonies and vocal trade-offs that are nearly dizzying also helps bring the band into their own.

The critically acclaimed debut album was recorded with former Gang Of Four guitarist Andy Gill in the producer's chair. The 14 songs are drawn from their entire history, including 'Stupid And Shallow' and 'Robot' from that first EP. Recording has been largely live in the studio, which is really the only way to capture the band.