Music
Press
May 2012 - Kerrang! Magazine
March 2012 - Big Cheese
June 2012 - Kerrang! Magazine
“Complex, ambitious, brave, inspiring, exciting, interesting, boundary breaking…LostAlone are one of the most exciting bands the UK has to offer.” 10/10 Ourzone - Ourzone Magazine
“The first time I heard LostAlone was exactly when I needed them. We were neck-deep into the last 6 months of touring The Black Parade and I was going through an emotional change and a personal struggle. "Say No To The World" was an album I listened to during this period, in it's entirety, and on repeat. It had been a long time since I heard something that spoke directly to my damaged and angry 16 year old self, yet was just as enjoyable to my actual freshly 30 year old brain. I know every word to every song they have ever written- even demos, when they had no name or artwork, I would give them random ones until Steven would tell me the actual titles. I have always thought of them as very much like us in that, they are a group of fox-hole buddies, all alone, with nothing to directly compare them to. And because of this, they make music that no one else can.” - Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) - NME Magazine
February 2012 - Kerrang! Magazine
July 2012 - Kerrang! Magazine
Summer 2012 - Classic Rock magazine
"...they smash the doors to the festival's alternative tent wide open as their ear-melting three part harmonies and huge rock choruses get the crowd warmed up." KKKK Kerrang
July 2012 - Kerrang! Magazine
“the Queen-influenced three-piece are a formidable unit and Steven Battelle is emerging as a genuine talent who can finger tap, sing and run around all at the same time.” NME - NME Magazine
“LostAlone are in their own league…..unbelievable guitar work and an infectious sense of humour makes you warm to their cause…..they fully understand the concept of showmanship and spectacle, their set abundant with joyful, free-spirited melody-making.” Kerrang 5K - Kerrang! Magazine
“This is an album with ambition in its loins, steeped in melodrama and an innate understanding that rock isn’t about being bashful. LostAlone understand that it’s about bombast, being ridiculous and pushing your act, attitude and amps up to 11.” KKKK Kerrang
March 2012 - Kerrang! Magazine
“I’m A UFO In This City is an exuberant rush of virtuosity and showmanship and it can only be a matter of time before this unabashed explosion of deadly hooks, dirty riffs and lighter aloft ballads regularly sell out stadiums.” 8/10 NME
March 2012 - NME Magazine
March 2012 - This Is Fake DIY
Discography
Studio albums
"Say No to the World" (2007)
"I'm A UFO In This City" (2012)
Extended Plays
"Light The Waves EP"
"Honey and Burlesque EP"
Singles
"Blood Is Sharp" (2006)
"Unleash the Sands of All Time" (2006)
"Elysium" (2007)
"Do You Get What You Pray For?" (2012)
"Love Will Eat You Alive" (2012)
"Paradox on Earth" (2012)
Photos
Bio
"An embargo of the soul" and "A complete restriction on living" " I was dead for a year" are just a few ways in which lead singer, guitarist and writer Steven Battelle describes the way he and his bandmates spent 12 months previous to the release of their second album.
Legal rumblings in the higher echelons of major labels left the band fighting to keep hold of a record they had poured themselves into making. Recorded in Los Angeles by acclaimed producers Jacknife Lee and Greg Wells with Executive producer Gerard Way, LostAlone's sophomore album "Im A UFO In This City" is a document of both the highs and lows of this unique bands journey.
Steven "For me there is a huge difference between being in a band and BEING a band. The latter of which means your general well being, your whole existence in fact is a tapestry woven with the threads of exhilarating highs and plummeting lows sometimes experiencing both in the space of a day"
As the first cut to be taken from the record "Do You Get What You Pray For?” is a biting angry epic formed around a riff excavated from bowls of doom and left to harden into what we hear today. And hear it we do! With Kerrang TV making it video of the week it then firmly lodged itself in the top 10 of nme.com's most popular videos for three weeks. Kerrang Radio single of the week as well as BBC radio one tastemaker Zane Lowe making it his "next hype" XFM radio and Scuzz TV have all jumped on board and are eagerly awaiting "Im a UFO In This City" to land.
The album itself moves between the heaviness of "Do You Get What You Pray For?" the anthemic Queen meets Sinatra on "We Are The Archaeology of the Futures Past" ridiculously melodic endeavours with the huge harmonies of "Love Will Eat You Alive" & “Paradox On Earth" the Police jamming with the Beach Boys on "Creatures" and the whacked out ambition of both "Vesuvius" and "The Downside Of Heaven Is The Upside Of Hell" complete with actual choir boys recorded in a cathedral.
“For me our debut ‘Say No To The World’ is a blue print for the kind of album I always want us to make" says Steven continuing "not one song on the record is comparable to the one before but are all tied together because its us, LostAlone playing them".
And on "I'm A UFO In This City" Steven explains "I had accumulated a wealth of material and this is where Gerard (Way, My Chemical Romance) came in. We engaged in a transatlantic back and forth of my demos - at times it felt like espionage as my music travelled secretly, unhindered across borders and then Gerard's feedback would come back to me in much the same way. This helped hugely in getting over 60 demos down to around 20. Gerard was also instrumental in connecting us with Greg Wells (one of the producers of UFO) who he had previously worked with.”
Drummer Mark on Greg "Greg Wells fully 'got' LostAlone, he understood our music and made the recording process a very creative and natural experience" Steven continues "Greg allowed us to be the band we are and with his own unique ear and musicality helped us to capture these songs exactly how I'd heard them in my head".
Two songs written a day apart and both very close to Steven's heart "Love Will Eat You Alive" and Paradox On Earth" were recorded with Jacknife Lee in the huge NRG studios in Hollywood and his way of working pushed the guys to become even more intense than usual! Something bassist Alan explains "Working with Jacknife Lee was an experience and a half, to say the least! He would spend an entire afternoon working on one chord and not settle for anything short of perfection. I think this shows on the songs he produced for us" The results are two huge anthems released as two further singles.
Both tracks premiered on NME.com. Second single “Love Will Eat You Alive” conqured the airwaves after entering the Radio 1 INMWT daytime playlist picking up genuine support from their specialist shows, while third single “Paradox On Earth” enjoyed success on MTV Rocks’ ‘Brand New’ playlist.
XFM, Kerrang!, Scuzz and Total Rock also continued to champion the band.
The album title itself provokes different meanings to different people - Steven "Its not about Aliens but about Alienation. With ‘I'm A UFO In This City’ I hope that people understand that I’m saying: you, me, we, are all in our own way the UFO in our cities – It’s about individualism and being proud of it."
Having toured the arenas of the UK and Europe with 30 Seconds To Mars, Paramore and My Chemical Romance (all three at the personal request of the bands) LostAlone have definitely been the UFO in many cities for a least one night! The guys are now looking forward to getting up close and personal on their forthcoming mammoth tour of the UK and Ireland.
"I'd like to issue a warning to people coming to the shows, you WILL end up with shrapnel of stray riffage lodged in your bodies, if you accept this before entry you're in for a great time" advises Ste
Links
