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The Needles
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IN SEARCH OF THE NEEDLES
Formed in Aberdeen, the band are Dave Dixon (guitar / lead vocals), Paul Curtiss (bass), Richey Wolfe (keyboards / vocals) and Johnny Wolfe (drums / vocals). They came together at the end of the 1990s as a means to survive the trials and tribulations of school together, they quickly became the biggest band in town... When we started out we loved Guns n Roses and Nirvana, but they were too complicated for us, explains wired singer Dave Dixon. Britpop meant nothing to us because we were detached from it it seemed like a London thing so we turned to the simplicity of the earliest rock n roll for inspiration. There was something quite sinister about Gene Vincent but tender too. There was an ambiguity there. Raw, exciting rock n roll made utter sense to us. In 2004 they hooked up the production team from the legendary Sawmills Studio in Cornwall and Taste media who had previously discovered and developed Muse and Supergrass. Much radio play ensued from Radio 1 (including winning the �Fresh Meat� slot on the Zane Lowe show) and in March 2005 The Needles released the�Under the City� EP on Dangerous Records, described by Rocksound as �Like Buddy Holly after he�s been projected into the 21st Century and handed a new pair of dancing shoes. Fantastic.� Following the release of their critically acclaimed Under The City EP in 2005, and of course the first single from the album Dianne (Reaching no 16 on the indie chart), In Search Of The Needles is a debut with intent. Let You Down kicks off the album with a building synth a scream and then that spiky angular guitaring that is unmistakably The Needles. It is a 35 minute blast of insurgent pop-flecked punk tunes that will hook you in and possibly leave you slightly flabbergasted at what has just happen! Live, Dave Needles a sinewy, bespectacled blitzkrieg ringleader with a PT Barnum-esque patter and a fine sense of self-aggrandizing, finger-popping shtick that would shame Elvis or James Brown. A Needles performance necessitates the members getting into their rock zone, a previously unchartered mental space thats been responsible for a catalogue of injuries skewered limbs, broken teeth, endless miles of stitching in local A&E wards. Having recently supported bands as diverse as Bloc Party, Young Knives and Muse see for yourself why the band have built up a strong, devoted following and critical praise. ------ The Needles anticipated debut album In Search Of The Needles through Dangerous Records via Pinnacle. The album includes the single Summer Girls plus the last single Dianne both garnered brillaint critical acclaim and both reached No 16 in the Indie chart. ----- From the simplest of constituents, the needles have created a monster. -NME Sharp fizzles of punk power pop. Like an overly-excited Weezer covering Buzzcocks, being mischievously poked by Phil Spectorwith shockingly electric cattle prods ROCKSOUND Fuzzy magic jem. -Metro Get yourself to a Needles gig youll jive to ace tunes, have a laugh and fall over on the tube on the way home! DISORDER A wonky new york dolls stomp which gives way to unfathomable oompah - Kerrang Songs like dead or alive is every teenage cowboy fantasy in one pop gem flash of tambourine-dream brilliance -NME The needles are not just the needles, theyre the FU....ING NEEDLES.The needles rule, ok? -Drowned in sound Great, great band -Zane Lowe Truly Impressive - THE FLY The Needles deliver an excellent set that's strong on melody and startling, imaginative instrumentation. - Music Week The Needles are what you have been searching for - Loud and Quiet Brilliant songs, Brilliant live...what more do you want?!! - Mark Lamarr |
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