Alex Marshall, Miss Vincent says:
“The title refers to a famous pair of skeletons that were buried together in an embrace, called ‘The Lovers of Valdaro’ as I’ve always been enamoured with the macabre beauty of the romance surrounding that story, and it fitted the theme of the song perfectly. It’s, unsurprisingly, a love song. But, it’s different from most in that it’s a pretty fundamental song, rather than a specific situation. It’s about doubt – looking back at past mistakes, how you could have acted differently and how it may have turned out if you had… Looking at missed opportunities – things you didn’t do, or maybe did do… and worrying about what the future holds, how you can avoid making the same errors and try and not screw things up. With all that said, the main message is that no matter how much you worry about it, it doesn’t change the past or predict the future but it can ruin something good, so the best way to go is to love without limits. That’s what is really important.
“We chose The Lovers as the first song for people to hear because it felt like the most natural thing to do. In that sense, it’s pretty indicative of what to expect from the rest of the record – honest and perceptive punk rock songs with great hooks that are a statement of identity for us. This is the kind of music we’ve always wanted to make and not to say that we’re not proud of our previous releases, because we are, but this record feels so, so right.”
The evident change in musical direction on the EP was not a conscious one; after heading to a friend’s warehouse to organically craft and track the initial demos, vocalist Alex recalls on the first listen how he struggled to recognise the band on the recordings as his own – this was a more brash and fiery sound. After discussing this with the rest of the band, they collectively agreed that this record represented the sonic path they wanted to follow, showcasing a natural evolution from 2015s EP Reasons ‘Not To Sleep’.
“We’ve always had a dark tinge to our music, and that’s definitely present in both the feel and the lyrical content of the new EP. But there’s also a little Against Me influence, a little Gaslight Anthem, and a sound that really lets the themes and the songs take a more pragmatic direction. We want to create stirring, honest punk rock music that feels real. We wanted to keep all of the grit and crackle we could, but still make it sound huge. SO much modern recorded music is produced to within an inch of its life, with loads of guitar parts that will never get played live, layers upon layers upon layers of vocals, and even programmed drums. For me, that takes so much of the raw emotion away”
Track Listing
1. Cold Hands
2. The Lovers
3. Lost and Forgotten
4. Beauty In Darkness
5. The Western Shore
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Since their inception in 2013, the band have grown to become an unrelenting live force – highlights to date include support to the likes of As It Is, Dead!, Bayside and Calabrese. 2017 will see the band push their live shows to the limit, with a short run in April and additional dates in the works:
5th Apr – Manchester, Retro Bar
6th Apr – London, The Islington
7th Apr – Hastings, Flairz
8th Apr – Basingstoke, Sanctuary
Alex Marshall – Vocals & Guitar
Lawrie Pattison – Guitar
Jack Donnelly – Drums
Owain Mainwaring – Bass