Gig Guide: Thu 18th Jun

 

Thu 18th Jun 20:00 CLUB NME :: TILTED SMILE :: HIJAK OSCAR :: THE WINTER KINGS

Tilted Smile are a Fast, Visual, Edgy, Rock & Roll power trio hailing from Burton. Four years on they are taking International audiences by storm with their fresh and vital take on guitar based music, Performing over 500 shows in that time. Highlights include being Voted Best New Band by Jack Daniels in 2006, recording at Sun Studios, touring Nashville and Memphis and a live session for Kerrang! And BBC.

Hijak Oscar started in York, August 2005. Their first album “Hijak Oscar” was recorded and mixed by the band and began to sell well at shows. With the audiences growing and the shows getting further from home and more regular, their “play anywhere, anytime, to anyone” attitude was paying off supporting the likes of Alabama 3, Son Of Dave, Jack Penate and Mostly Autumn.

In 2007 Hijak saw a way to get their music heard by more people. Channel 4’s MobileAct Unsigned. The show was on the popular T4 Sunday morning show and repeated on Saturday mornings, Wednesday nights and what seemed to be anytime they could fit it in. Appearing on the show was doing wonders for the bands profile. Hijak asked to leave the TV show in the semi finals. Having got what they wanted from it and believing nothing good could come from a record deal that you win. This was later confirmed when the winners had very little success after the show through no fault of their own. Appearing on the show pushed mySpace plays up to over 2000 to 3000 a day, increased album sales and inspired the month long “Hellbound Tour” which covered the country from top to bottom and was a massive success with sell out shows and venues having to move the band into bigger capacity rooms due to large amount of pre sales. One of the shows on the tour was supporting the now very popular Glassvegas and another the prog legends Focus. Towards the middle of 2008 it was time to start work on the new album which will be titled “Black Sheep Moneybox” which is 16 tracks long and today the debut album has sold well over 5000 copies.

The Winter Kings, based in the East of England write powerful, emotive, melody driven music with a dark and introspective lyrical base. Underpinned by the fusion of Delderfield's epic guitar work and Kehoe's haunting vocal, their work is difficult to define in terms of influence but should appeal to fans of the atmospheric rock of Interpol and the National and the dark lyrical leanings of Nick Cave and Arcade Fire. The band's live set has drawn a lot of media attention after incendiary performances at The Secret Garden Party Festival and in venues in London, Cambridge, Peterborough and Dublin. A UK tour to promote the forthcoming single is already underway. Reviews of the band's music and performance have been, without exception, laudatory and their fan base continues to grow apace. Black Caravan, the powerful new single by The Winter Kings is now available for download. The song has already attracted widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike and an accompanying video, featuring Lois Winstone, will be distributed in parallel. The band have now finished recording their first Album, 'The Gallows on the Shore' set for release in July 2009

Price: £2 / FREE for NUS
Age Limit: 18+
Buy Tickets
Location: The Rockhouse, Babington Lane, Derby, DE1 1SX

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