Four Wheel Drive
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Four Wheel Drive

London, England, United Kingdom

London, England, United Kingdom
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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Four Wheel Drive are 'Gig of the Week' in Classic Rock Magazine"

WHO: Four Wheel Drive

WHERE: London 100 Club

WHEN: Tuesday, May 4

The highly rated and hotly tipped Twickenham rock’n'rollers (Aerosmith meets The Faces) are aiming for a right old touchdown, when they play their most ambitious gig to date.

“We’re doing it for the launch of our new video, for the song White Lines,” explains bassist/vocalist Jamie. “We wanted to do it at a good venue, with the facilities to allow us to show the video, and the 100 Club fits perfectly. It was a bit ambitious for a band like us to do a venue this big, but the way everything’s shaping up, I reckon we’ll fill the place.”

The evening was supposed to see Four Wheel Drive plus two support bands playing. But all that’s now changed. So 4WD will do a 45-50 minute set, after which the video (directed by Sara Harding) will be screened and then Krusher will get everyone boogying the night away on the decks of steel.

“Obviously we’re still promoting our debut album (High Roller), so most of the set will be based around that. But we might throw in a couple of new songs we’ve been working on as well.”

The band – Jamie, guitarists Ben and Paddy and drummer Will – have just finished a German tour, and have plenty of plans in hand to keep touring through the summer.

“We also want to tie up a better distribution deal for the record, to make sure it gets wider exposure.” - Future


"Four Wheel Drive – Sticky Fungus – 15 May 2009"

I have seen this band a couple of times in bars but put that frizz and fizz on a big stage like Sticky Fungus, Staines and – KAPOW – Four Wheel Drive are sizzling sensations.
Strongly influenced by the blues of the South with its virile aggression and hard working honest-to-goodness energy, Four Wheel Drive are not really declaring musical independence or even starting their own confederacy… They just wanna have some fun playing some agreeable rock pieces to a smashed audience.
But ‘It’s not what they do, it’s the way that they do it’, that counts. On a damp Friday night in Staines town I am looking for a bag of excitement and passion. I am looking for a bit of boogie and a whole lotta woogie. And boy, this group fired me up like a stick of dynamite. If you, like me, enjoy the concept of sharing a bottle of acid-mash Tennessee liquor whilst hanging out with some unseemly can-can girls in the back-room bar of some sleazy no-good dive on Bourbon Street, then this band is definitely for you. They put pepper in your pants…
Staines is a long way from Vicksburg, Mississippi and, in our wet world, where we experience fog, flu, fish-cakes, footie, ford fiestas and girls called Fiona we clamor for escapism. We want a dream. A desert. A cactus. A rattlesnake. And a bit of moonshine. And that is what 4WD The Band provided for us at Sticky Fungus last night.
Distortion fuelled guitars (“Distortia” as Rihanna would call it, whilst doing that mad thing with her hands) and rolling thunderous drums were the backdrop to Jamie Lailey’s superb ‘Brian Johnson’ style vocals. Think of that rasping, high-pitched silver shafting energy in AC/DC songs such as “Whole Lotta Rosie” to get the idea of the sound. Lithe Ben Austwick and sleek Paddy Achtelik share the guitar duties admirably, and the quality and vitality of their exciting solos is inspirational. And this was truly a theatre of rock …. it was like having two frizzante haired ax wielding acrobats whirling around the stage in a blaze of psychedelic glory. It was like reliving the early days of Led Zeppelin all over.
The crowd just stood and stared… not in a bad way either… it was through sheer astonishment and wonder. They wanted to focus and to be grateful. Towards the end of the set the Sticky Fungus crowd started to limber up a little but there was still a kinda magic on stage that held the audience in some kind of mysterious hypnotic trance.
The band plays songs like ‘White Lines’ with its chunky chords worn a bit like a hip 1970’s vicar. With thumping bass sound-tracks like those panadol adverts – you know the one with ‘constant throbbing pulsating pain’. And with the twangy southern feel of the muted lead guitars that start to creep into your head and play footsie with your sensitive and vulnerable parts. The band also has Jaggeresque vocals a la Mississippi Delta together with singsong corn-bread chorus lines – helping to underline that their music is from the Great British southern-rock scrapbook. Fuzzy-felt lead breaks are satisfying and accomplished … with ‘sensible’ chugging rhythms from Will Richards on drums (sensible as in your younger sister wears ‘sensible’ shoes when she goes out clubbin’ on a Saturday night)
Other songs are Black Crowes-ish in feel and texture- with accomplished guitar lines i.e. like Black Oak Arkansas or Kentucky Headhunters. Other numbers have funky southern rhythms (and the blues) with yowser vocals similar to ‘Bad Company’ i.e. British Southern rather than ‘proper’ Southern drawl-rock. Other material was staple fare with plenty of classic sounding riffs and sing along verses.
If you are the kind of person who loves Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bad Company / Free and AC/DC, then you are gonna just lurve this band. When I saw Four Wheel Drive for the first time, a couple of years back, I thought that they were a bit like a musical version of a 1990’s Land-Rover Discovery. You know … the one in blue with nylon trim and chipped paint. It does the job- it gets you to work and back and gets you around town – at times it is fun even, it can keep things movin’ on a long hard day – but it doesn’t really make your heart sing and your jiggly bits shiver with excited anticipation…
But after that totally triumphant concert at Sticky Fungus Staines yesterday evening I have to admit that the band has now become a shiny top of the range Hummer softop with an expensive LA chop-shop paint job, screaming flame decals, roaring afterburner exhausts and decorated by leggy babes wearing cut down denims, cowboy boots and tiny polka-dot bras.
God, I love ‘em!
© Neil_Mach
May 2009
- Staines Wordpress


"4WD at Lokal Ohne Namen"

Four Wheel Drive mix the music of ACDC with a good dose of the Rolling Stones and sprinkle on some Thin Lizzy to create timeless Rock music. You have heard people try to do it, but rarely this good!"
Sebastian "Konz" Konopka - WAZ - Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung


"Four Wheel Drive at Zoom @ the Moon"

A five star recommendation for out and out rock band FOUR WHEEL DRIVE: The Twickenham four piece update the Bon Scott steam roller rocking of early AC/DC, add Keith Richard like riffs and top it with some Zeppelin influenced bluesy derived killer high octane rock. They blew the roof off. Never was the phrase, 'For those about to rock' more apt! - Pete Feenstra


"Four Wheel Drive with Skinny Molly"

"The best support band we've ever had...I can retire knowing the future of Rock is in safe hands!" - Mike Estes (Skinny Molly and ex Lynyrd Skynyrd)


"Four Wheel Drive in Classic Rock Magazine"

"Young Brits Four Wheel Drive are getting some serious attention right now. High Roller (Half Ton) gives every indication that this lot aren’t being overrated. It’s Quireboys style good old fashioned rock ‘n’stroll. Time to boogie once more. It could be Drive time in 2010."

(Malcolm Dome - Classic Rock Magazine) - Future Music Publishing


"Four Wheel Drive in Metal Hammer"

"The two appropriately dressed guitarists flanking their frontman both rip a mean riff and shred front row faces with their enviable fretwork. Sounding like a cross between The Black Crowes and Airbourne the band prove that there’s more to pub rock than AC/DC as they hint at The Rolling Stones and Little Richard, through a modern energised performance straight out of the heavy metal handbook."
James Gill, Metal Hammer
- Future Music Publishing


"Four Wheel Drive Hard Rock Hell Review on Room 13"

Stage 3 festival closer was satirical band Four Wheel Drive. Sporting skin-tight denim and zebra-print spandex along with big hair, the teenagers looked every inch the glam rockers.

I should say that it wasn’t my intention to stay and listen to this band, but as I was leaving a fan saw my media pass, pushed a Four Wheel Drive flyer into my hand and enthusiastically ranted about how good they were; with support like that, I decided to give them a go (not that I think I would have got away even if I’d wanted to)!

Despite rock heavyweights Witchfynde and Marya Roxx performing on the larger stages, Four Wheel Drive had a good crowd. The band was due to perform the previous night on the larger Stage 2, however due to a medical emergency occurring during the set of the band that performed before them, they were postponed to the following day.

So, the verdict?

I am so glad I stayed! Despite the excessive crotch thrusting, Four Wheel Drive did not disappoint, their set was extremely entertaining and I couldn’t help dancing along with their army of fans. The lads were bursting with confidence with no hint of arrogance; they completely owned the stage, making a lasting impression with their audience.

The majority of the bands that performed at Hard Rock Hell were at their peak during the 80’s and 90’s before the Four Wheel Drive lads were even born; this set could’ve so easily fallen flat on its face but the lads performed the genre perfectly. Here’s hoping they take hard rock forward for the next generation to enjoy.

Four Wheel Drive was the perfect band to close Stage 3; their energetic performance left the audience on a high ready for the rock giants due to take to Stage 1 this is definitely a band I’ll be looking out for in the future!

(Sian Jennifer Smith - roomthirteen.com) - roomthirteen.com


Discography

Album: "High Roller" (2009)
Available on iTunes, Napster & Amazon.

Photos

Bio

Four Wheel Drive is a band that exists to play live. They deliver what can only be described as a relentless onslaught of good time, balls out Rock 'N' Roll. Ben Austwick and Paddy Achtelik provide rhythm guitar interplay that constantly bombards the audience from both sides of the stage. Ben also hits you with incendiary, gut-wrenching, Blues-based lead guitar and Paddy slips 'n' slides with his distinctive 'Sky Dog'-esque bottleneck.

The rhythm section generates a force capable of knocking down walls, yet with enough control to retain the R'n'B feel of '70s Aerosmith and Rolling Stones. Powerhouse-drummer Will Richards is the engine of Four Wheel Drive. With his equally forceful and skillful drumming, he sets the pace and lays down the groove show after show, night after night.

The band's sound is topped and led by Jamie's vocals. Switching between a sleazy drawl and a ball-busting scream, the vocals compliment both the Rhythm 'n' Blues and Rock elements of the band. Tightly rehearsed vocal harmonies add an extra dimension to the songs, giving the live performances the same depth as the recordings.

After 12 months hard work recording in a number of studios in the UK and Europe, Four Wheel Drive have recently released their debut album "High Roller" which captures the energy and excitement of the live show. They have also recently finished shooting their first commercial music video (produced by MTV's Sara Harding) for the album opener and first single 'White Lines'. This is due to air on 31st May 2010 on MTV2, Kerrang! and Scuzz TV.