The Mojo Fins

Artist Information

Biography

Brighton band The Mojo Fins recently emerge from recording sessions at the legendary Rockfield Studios with Producer Dave Eringa (Manic Street Preachers, Idlewild) which has seen this progressive UK act take their brand of contemporary rock to new heights.

Talk to The Mojo Fins and you’ll get to know a band in love with music, rather than the celebrity it can bring, their devotion to the art inspired by the likes of Elliot Smith, Ryan Adams and The Shins. Listen to their ever-expanding repertoire and you’ll hear songs composed with painstaking care and attention to detail, coruscating guitars, intricate rhythms and driving bass, bound together by the unifying force of melody, so often lost to haircuts and swagger or within walls of noise.

Their latest release ‘The Spirit EP’ received excellent reviews, with lead track 'Sweet Spirit' being chosen as the soundtrack for a series of short films celebrating 80 years of Sir Peter Blake (the godfather of British Pop Art) comissioned by The Maccallan Whiskey (http://vimeo.com/45018637).

The Mojo Fins are heading back into the studio in November to demo a strong set of songs for their third album, putting the group on track to set 2013 alight, united in the spirit that brought them together they find themselves on the brink of a new stage, as excited, as bold, as exceptional as ever.

Instrumentation

Stephen Brett - Guitar / Lead Vocals
Adam Luke Atkins - Guitar / Vocals
Steve Hoile - Bass / Keyboards / Vocals
Dave Russell - Drums

Discography

Albums:
Shake the Darkness (2011)
The Sound That I Still Hear (2009)

EPs:
Sweet Spirit (June 2012)
Live At The Red Room (2009)

Singles:
Lighthouse (Feb 2012)
Owning My Condition (October 2011)
The Spell (June 2011)
Previous Single releases:
Pinata Face (2007)
Always Now (2008)
In The Script (2009)
Meet Me At The Pictures (2010)

Official Website

http://www.themojofins.co.uk

Links

• MySpace
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Youtube

Audio

• Sweet Spirit
  Listen  
• Palace of Memory
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Owning My Condition (Radio Edit)
• Sweet Spirit
• Palace Of Memory
• When I Go

Video

'Owning My Condition' - The new single

'Broken Link'

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Mojo Fins - Interview with Stephen Brett [+ Show ]
  

  The Mojo Fins are a Brighton band, formed in 2004. Vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Stephen Brett te...The Mojo Fins are a Brighton band, formed in 2004. Vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Stephen Brett tells e about the origin of their name.
  
  "Oh, Sam [Lloyd], John [Chandler] and Dave [Russell] were working together already. They'd a gig coming up and John, whom I'd known since we were about four years old, asked me to join. They were called Charlie Smoke. I wasn't keen on the name. We were all pretty smitten with Jeff Buckley who had a track called 'Mojo Pin' on his album Grace. I liked that, but Dave said it was too obvious, so we changed it. I remember standing outside the venue at that first gig altering the name on all the posters with a marker pen."
  
  So what happened to Sam? "Our first bassist? He was never that into it; not like the rest of us. It was only when Stephen [Hoile] replaced him on bass - he plays piano too - that the thing really got proper, gigging more and thinking about recording. Initially I'd no intention of singing, just playing guitar..."
  
  And then in 2007 John was killed. “Yes, in a road crash. Five people died in that crash. It changed everything. His song 'Piñata Face' was due out as our first single. When it was released later that year it was as a tribute to him with all the proceeds going to the charity RoadPeace. When we eventually agreed to carry on, about a year later, Adam Luke Atkins on guitar and vocals was an obvious person to bring in. Bizarrely, he'd been in a band that also lost a member, killed in that same accident, so he understood what we'd been going through."
  
  Many of the bands lyrics touch on the theme of mortality. "Yes, I suppose so; even on one of the songs on our new CD, The Spirit EP."
  
  Songs are credited to the whole band, but the lyrics are Sthepen's. How does their song-writing process work? "Very rarely with the lyrics coming first. That's because I'm totally addicted to playing the guitar. It's a strange thing. My hand just needs to play, basically. I don't think I've ever written a set of lyrics without any tune."
  
  The two albums (2009's The Sound I Still Hear and 2011's Shake The Darkness), both on Amazon Records, have been well received but sales haven't been great. Was this slow progress disappointing?
  
  "Oh, no. I have quite a strange relationship with it. I never really expected a lot. I just assumed nothing much would happen. I couldn't imagine either album being massive. Maybe I'm just not confident enough. I feel lucky really. It's a small label and anyway, I've another career entirely with social work, so it's not like I depend on it."
  
  The new EP sounds different, more acoustic and with a much more assured and interesting vocal style especially in the quasi-choral touches - not unlike Fleet Foxes.
  
  "I feel much ore content with what we're doing. Rockfield is a superb studio. When we did the last album there, we went for a big sound with overdubs and strings. For this EP I got into finger-picking, hence the acoustic guitar. We definitely tried to make something quieter, keeping the instruments sparser. I'm happier with that. The plan now is to make two more EPs, maybe with some songs that are a bit more up-tempo."
  Nick Toczek
  

• The Mojo Fins- New Album- Shake the Darkness [+ Show ]
  

  “Since their debut album in 2009 The Mojo Fins have cranked up the epic levels; these songs soar wit...“Since their debut album in 2009 The Mojo Fins have cranked up the epic levels; these songs soar with anthemic confidence. The production stewardship of Dave Eringa (Manics, Idlewild) truly brings the songs to life, juggling crescendos of analogue guitar warmth with live strings and keys against towering vocal harmonies. The tunes are there, the hooks are there – you’re unlikely to hear a more accomplished and self- assured album this year. The Mojo Fins just have to transfer it to a national audience, and that can only be a matter of time.” - (NC) Brighton Source

• The Mojo Fins - 'Shake the Darkness' [+ Show ]
  

  Quite why the worlds of post-rock and sensitive singer-songwriter balladry don’t meet more often is ...Quite why the worlds of post-rock and sensitive singer-songwriter balladry don’t meet more often is an enigma, as The Mojo Fins’ documentation of this chance meeting is quite special. They’ve taken the feather-light tremolo guitars and precise, heavy-hitting percussion beloved of more dramatically-inclined bands and then weighted them with a steady stream of pop nuances. It's a transition made all the more seamless by Stephen Brett’s skill at manipulating his vocals to complement, but never interfere with, the core of the songs.
  This means that cuts like Owning My Condition and its angelic background harmonies manage to veer away from clichédom and into the heart, while Heligan strips the vocals back to bare bones and concentrates instead of building upon layers of intricately intertwining melodies to compensate for the loss. Switching emphasis between voice and guitar can often be an unsteady path to walk but Shake The Darkness maintains the balance with grace and poise.(Dave Bowes)
  

• The Mojo Fins - 'Live' [+ Show ]
  

  “The much acclaimed Mojo Fins definitely do look the part – cool with an anorak twist. Their lyrics... “The much acclaimed Mojo Fins definitely do look the part – cool with an anorak twist. Their lyrics are deep with a capital P (poetic and philosophical) and rhythms are intricate works of musical art. A tight set, melodic riffs and Keane-like vocals all made for a luscious sound that could well set itself apart in the world of pop rock. 4/5” - Latest 7 Magazine
  
  

Setlist

Intro
Owning My Condition
Always Now
Junk Comfort
Palace of Memory
When I Go
Paper Lanterns
Memory Maps
Sweet Spirit
Heligan

Basic Requirements

Calendar