Club Smith
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Club Smith

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"“Club Smith bristle with the fight-or-flight energy of people with a very important message to deliver, very quickly.”"

Regardless of the fact that it’s only 6.45pm, this is the first band of three, the venue is less than half full, and it’s ten below what-the-fuck outside, there’s an electrifying gravitas to Club Smith that makes this aimlessly milling Kaiser Chiefs crowd shut up, stand still and face forward as though the mind control devices have just been switched on.

Club Smith are a good fit on this tour, they have all the swell and gusto of the Chiefs themselves, the same liberal use of the bass drum handy for a bit of dance-by-numbers. But while the Kaisers are a goodtime band, all laid back and leisurely with it, Club Smith bristle with the fight-or-flight energy of people with a very important message to deliver, very quickly, like the authoritative panic of a guy trying to tell everyone to keep calm and get out of the building before it’s too late. There are big choruses, and bridges deconstructed to almost nothing but bare vocals, building again to rousing sign-offs. ‘Lament’ begins as a fairly speedy, Editors-y, whoop-along before breaking down suddenly and unexpectedly to become a spine-tingling three-part a capella refrain.

So frontman Sam isn’t forthcoming with the banter, being a man of few words – an antithesis to the red coat crowd-working of Ricky Wilson – but it works in Club Smith’s favour, they seem more genuine that way. They finish on the marching drill of ‘No Friend Of Mine’, probably their strongest single to date, and judging by the crowd reaction they get tonight, they won’t be in support slots for long. - The Fly (UK Magazine)


"“Club Smith came like an adrenaline jab in the arm of my flagging faith in indie guitar bands. This is independent music new-minted with freshness and conviction”"

"Call To Harm came like an adrenaline jab in the arm of my flagging faith in indie guitar bands. At a radio-friendly 2'45" this is independent music new-minted with freshness and conviction. Imagine a wilder, rougher 2011 successor to Editors - playing as if their lives depended on it." - Music Week (UK Music Industry Magazine)


"“Club Smith are shaping up to give guitar music one hell of a kick up the arse”"

Do you hear that? No not that; that. It’s the deafening howl of people screaming ‘GUITAR MUSIC IS DEAD’. It’s quite ridiculous - mainly because everyone knows that guitar music, like Keith Richards, cannot be killed by conventional means.

The rumours of guitar music’s death have indeed been greatly exaggerated, but there might still be something to the argument that the [admittedly large] genre needs a significant injection of new blood.

This is where currently unsigned Leeds four-piece, Club Smith, come into the equation. After releasing two of our favourite ‘under the radar’ singles of 2011 (‘No Friend of Mine’ and ‘Call to Harm’, since you asked) the band knuckled down, hit the studio and began work on their debut album, ‘Beautiful and Useless’.

Earlier this week they slipped us a fresh-off-the-mixer copy of album opener, ‘Mantra’. The verdict? Well, why not judge for yourselves by clicking HERE.

Good, isn’t it? The meandering melody marks a change of pace for the band but, contrary to what you may have been told, change can actually be a very good thing. In Club Smith’s case it marks them out as the sort of band that thinks in terms of albums rather than quick-fix, three-minute singles – and we like that. We like that a lot.

‘Mantra’’s combination of huge, echoing vocals and a bass line that rattles and hums with the best of them checks a lot of our boxes, and we’re more than confident that it won’t be long before a label picks them up. They won’t save guitar music on their own, but they are shaping up to give it one hell of a kick up the arse. - Artrocker (UK Magazine)


"“They’re a band on the rise, and if they can keep turning in performances like this you’ll be hearing a lot more from them in the near future.”"

Live Review - Camden April 2012:

If you’ve been paying close attention to this site over the past couple of months – and thank you if you have - you’ll have noticed the words ‘Club’ and ‘Smith’ cropping up rather frequently.

Aside from anything else, this is because we’ve found ourselves incredibly taken by everything we’ve received from them: the singles, the amusing videos, the sneaky album samplers – all of it. Until Monday, the only remaining question mark was whether the band could live up to this early promise and deliver a live set that matched expectations.

We needn’t have worried.

In set opener, ‘Young Defeatists’, Club Smith have a song that sets the benchmark against which all other unsigned guitar bands ought to be measured. Loud, powerful and executed with pinpoint precision, it established the tone for a well-paced set that worked up to a frantic bass-driven apex (‘Nonchalant’), before jack-knifing back towards the beautifully subdued ‘Lament’.

Closing with the ferocious ‘No Friend Of Mine’, it hit home that Club Smith are simply too damn good to remain unsigned for much longer.

They’re a band on the rise, and if they can keep turning in performances like this you’ll be hearing a lot more from them in the near future. - Artrocker (UK Magazine)


"“Club Smith may hold the keys to the revival of British guitar music”"

Leeds based Club Smith may hold the keys to the revival of British guitar music and are soon to release their anticipated debut album. They have just finished touring with Leeds’ heroes Kaiser Chiefs and also have a number of live headline dates in February.
After previously covering the band’s debut single release, the double A side ‘Young Defeatists/No Friend of Mine’, a boisterous and energetic set of tracks with real angst and clout, I was surprised by the ethereal and almost ghostly introduction of ‘Mantra’ the first track on their forthcoming album Beautiful and Useless.

The eerie intro with its muffled voices and almost unnerving feel is going to give the album a brilliantly dark atmospheric introduction. A rough bass riff begins to shake the track before the introduction of echoing, picked guitar gives texture totally different to their previous anthemia. The steady synth at the back of the song adds substance and continues to build the sense of threat that defines the single. The vocals of lead singer Sam Robson are surprisingly subtle in the track, yet still retain their trademark angst and anxiety. The track picks up pace and the crashing and powerful guitar of the chorus gives it an epic feel which work wells with the subtler verse riff.

This is a remarkable song and genuinely builds the anticipation for album. - MusicBrokeMyBones.co.uk (UK Blog)


Discography

The Loss (Demo EP) - March 2010
The Process (Demo EP) - July 2010
No Friend of Mine (Single) - June 2011
Call To Harm (Single) - November 2011

LAMENT (Single) - November 2012
APPETITE FOR CHIVALRY (ALBUM) - November 2012

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Bio

Energetic, guitar/keyboard driven indie band Club Smith are a four piece hailing from Leeds (UK), who have pricked the ears of BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson and Steve Lamacq, Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and John Kennedy and the XFM playlist before touring with Kaiser Chiefs at the start of this year.

In seven rapturously received dates, Club Smith sold enough CDs from the merch stand to chart in the UK singles chart, and since then the band have become tour favourites of Shed Seven who took them on their summer jaunts.

Club Smith were recently long-listed by the Association of Independent Music as one of the hardest working bands in the country. Besides rigorous three month training campaigns for a 2011 boxing themed video (and enlisting a 20 piece ensemble to record live for 2012 video "Lament"), the band design their own artwork and have set up a label imprint with UK Label All Sorted Records to release their debut album ‘Appetite for Chivalry’. Said album comes out in the UK in November 2012 through Tri-Tone/PIASUK distribution. Expect, as Tom Robinson (6Music) put it, “Independent music new-minted with freshness and conviction.".

Quotes:

“Club Smith may hold the keys to the revival of British guitar music”
(Music broke my bones)

“Club Smith are shaping up to give guitar music one hell of a kick up the arse” (Artrocker)

“Club Smith bristle with the fight-or-flight energy of people with a very important message to deliver, very quickly.” (The Fly)