Five O'Clock Heroes

We know what you’re thinking. Just who are these mysterious Five O’ Clock Heroes?

Well, there’s a long and a short answer to that question. The short answer is that they’re the Anglo-American quartet whose take on the late-70’s jerk-pop mastery of the likes of Joe Jackson and Elvis Costello has been causing a quiet stir on both sides of the Atlantic, and who’se debut album, ‘Bend To The Breaks’, a record so riddled with post-punk infectiousness, it should come bearing its own STI warning with a complimentary body-condom to boot.

After living in New York for over a year, British frontman Antony Ellis met Elliot (Thomson, guitarist) in a bar and they started playing together, then within a two-week period they both met Nader (Khierbek, bass), and after going through a couple of drummers over the next few years, they finally settled on South London lad, Sam Embery. Nader adds “Our geographical origins, which were exhibited sonically with our various accents, were not our only differences. We hailed from a wide range of musical influences, from Brit Pop to Rock to Punk. Finding a common ground gave us our edge, and we soon learned the art of shaping catchy hook laden songs into high energy, fast paced, danceable tunes. “

Tour supports with the likes of Brendan Benson, The Bravery and The Paddingtons brought them to the attention of British gig-goers, their jittery, hook-laden pop classicism winning fans the length and breadth of the country, on the back of their own dime. It paid off, but it wasn’t easy.
As Nader remembers “ Touring was truly a test of tolerance We were within arms length of each other 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for months at a time, like young siblings growing up in a tiny flat. The potentially volatile situation actually galvanized us into a tighter band. We learned to live with each-others eccentricities, and embrace our differences. In the end it made us sound better, perform better, and most importantly, become best mates”

‘Bend To The Breaks’ itself – sparsely recorded on their own buck in former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha’s New York studio, is a jerking, jittery post-punk meisterwork that’s less concerned with aspirations of skuzzy NY cool and concentrates instead on the multi-faceted delights of razor-sharp pop songwriting, with doffs of the cap to the likes of The Cars and – gasp! – The Police. From the spiky angular come-on of opener ‘Head Games’ to the joyous reggae-pop hybrid, er, come on of ‘White Girls’, it’s an infuriatingly catchy collection of twelve potential singles rife with bedhopping sexual frustration and choruses that etch themselves into your grey matter after a mere cursory listen.

Autumn 2006 was as ever spent on the road; UK dates; first headline dates in Scandinavia, a HMV sponsored tour in Japan and European dates with the likes of JET and ALBERT HAMMOND JR. 2007 has featured SO FAR -A sell out tour of Holland; their first German headline tour and of course a tranche of UK dates, intermingled by guesting on the MTV Scandinavia 25th birthday bash and other such parties. Do they ever stop ? Well yes – they have 4 weeks off in New York to rehearse the new album before embarking on the European festival season when they will yet again be proving what the phrase “crowd pleasing’ was built for.

Just who are the Five O’ Clock Heroes? You’re about to find out very, very soon.

Barry Nicholson (NME)