Moscow Drive

Moscow Drive A: Colossal
B: Cincinnati

Released on 26th October 2009 (Hockey Records)

“Fast paced attacks of adrenaline fuelled indie [with] returns to the epic and picturesque…this demands you sit up and listen” – The Sound Magazine

“With a smear of Doves, Interpol and a snatch of The Jesus and Mary Chain…Heads will roll when these guys get the exposure that's coming their way. You can take this as a recommendation” – The Mag

“Moscow Drive are a four-piece renowned for their knack for writing bittersweet, soaring anthems. Their skillfully crafted songs are distinguished by their attractive melodies, elegant lyrics and their whole-hearted execution.” – H.R

Moscow Drive are a band that look to be storming toward the public consciousness with increasing rapidity. The four-piece from Bromley in Kent announce their first recorded step with this debut offering. Available for download from the 26th October, “Colossal” and b-side “Cincinnati” perfectly showcase the hugely talented outfit’s ability to create songs rife with picturesque melodies that avoid the assumed obligatory asinine elements that appear to hinder a great many of their peers.

Demonstrating a method that has earned Moscow Drive some great plaudits so soon since their formation, the quartet have created a euphoric debut single that evokes faultless imagery with every lyric sung and note struck. “Colossal”, with its delicately placed power, will strike a familiar chord with many listeners. Documenting a recognisable spat about a love lost, and the aftermath of it, it is a delicious piece of work that wears its sincerity upon its sleeve. Written on a road trip to Toronto, and mastered by none other than Ian Cooper (Oasis/Nick Cave), it perfectly sums up the theme of confusion and heartbreak, reaching out to the listener with the sing-a-long end refrain – “If you can't appreciate what you've got, you'd better get what you can appreciate”. B-side “Cincinnati” continues the romance by perfectly entwining a beautiful, swirling melody around the oft-experienced struggle of journeying to a place in your life that proves to be much more difficult than first thought. However, Moscow Drive twist the “Get there or die trying” cliché on its head, and instead convey the belief that that these experiences are worth relishing, and you should want to live forever trying to get there. As more often than not, it’s the journey rather than the end which remains engrained in the mind.

Having known each other since their early school days, Moscow Drive had gained a wealth of experience playing separately in various bands before joining forces under one alias. Live, their perfectly contrasting personalities onstage ensure the band never follow the gutter line straight to harmonious mediocrity. In fact, it’s their assured performances that have lead to not only a performance at the 2008 CMJ Festival in New York, but also support slots with a plethora of successful acts such as The Boxer Rebellion, The Twang, Reverend and The Makers, and Hockey. Highly impressive for a band only just releasing their debut single.

With radio support already secured from BBC Regional and BBC Introducing, Moscow Drive look set to build upon this early promise with a further single being released before the end of the year, and if ‘Colossal’ is an indication of things to come the foursome will soon be paving their route to massive mainstream success.

LIVE DATES

26th September – New Cross Inn, New Cross, LONDON
2nd October – The Mitre, Greenwich, LONDON
24th October – The Railway, Bromley, LONDON
19th December – The Wilmington, Farringdon, LONDON

More live dates TBA

http://www.myspace.com/moscowdrive

Moscow Drive are: Simon Jones - Lead Vox/Guitars, Nick Edwards - Backup Vox/Lead Guitar, Dean Trendler - Bass guitar, Dave Persiva - Drums
- Bloody Awful Poetry PR

This writer has a history of being on the money when it comes to predicting a success story, and Moscow Drive are for me, about to join that list. Building bands up with no grounds for proof is a foolish thing for any reviewer, but these lads, from Bromley in Kent have a certain way with songs. What is so great about the tracks that I have been sent is that they’re brimming with ability, and bursting with melodies that I can sing back to myself instantly. ‘Colossal’ is a song born out of the necessity to be uplifting with the crushing lyric of “If you can’t appreciate what you’ve got, you’d better get what you can appreciate”. I found myself listening back again and again, and on the lookout for more. If I’m truly honest, they make me nervous. I don’t know why just yet, but maybe that’s because I can predict the future. It’s going to be full of red triangles.
- The Music Magazine

“With a smear of Doves, Interpol and a snatch of The Jesus and Mary Chain, this band Moscow Drive somehow have created an E.P full of tracks that wouldn't be out of place in my music collection. Now that is saying something. They've written a collection of songs here that have caught me off guard. The Trooper is a delicate listen which moves up a few gears as you listen in. Silver Sky is a heartfelt snipe at a former squeeze with a huge chorus, Colossal is about as uplifting as it gets, and Cincinnati is a track so fraught with realism it's almost as if you can visualise it while listening. Heads will roll when these guys get the exposure that's coming their way. You can take this as a recommendation. - MCR music

Hailing from the “Bromley Beat,” Moscow Drive are an indie four piece formerly known as AmanaceR.

Deriving inspiration from the day to day repetitiveness of their home town and encounters with snobbish girls and Bromley boys, the band’s desperation is most evident on the raw and emotive ‘All The Lights,’ when, with elements of Interpol in its haunted guitars, insistent cries of ”we’ll try the best to do by you” end with the realisation that “this town is dead!”

New songs ‘Same Old, Same Old’ and ‘Partisan’ are fast paced attacks of adrenaline fuelled indie while in a return to the epic and picturesque,
‘A Thousand Things’ is an absolute belter of a track that demands you sit up and listen!

Counting Oasis and The Jam amongst their influences, Moscow Drive have previously sold out support slots with The Twang, Reverend & The Makers, The Courteeners and The Paddingtons, and deservedly earned themselves a nomination in the ‘Best Indie’ category of the 2008 Indy Music Awards.

A forthcoming single release is in the pipeline with a debaucherous gig planned to celebrate its launch but in the meantime you can catch Moscow Drive in
at Tommy Flynns in Camden on the 19th July. - The Sound Magazine

This band hail from the suburbs of London. They claim that they don't sound like the failing East London scene, and what a breath of fresh air it was to realise they were telling us the truth!

Massive choruses, beautiful guitar licks, drenched in subtle delay and reverb, all coin together to make what we believe is our tip for the top of our humble music tree.

Seriously worth a listen. - The Rhythm Factory

"Moscow Drive are a great sounding band that can make an epic emotive song that's still interesting to listen to"
- Stool Pigeon

"Melodic indie this may be, but thankfully it lacks the clichéd jangly guitar, instead replacing it with some subtle, subdued six string work and a bass drum that kicks like a metronome. These guys seem to have made their name the old fashioned way, by building a local fan base, earning support slots with some well known bands and then working hard to raise their profile. ‘Colossal’ is a great first single for them, catchy in a subtle and thus much more enjoyable way."
- Music News

"...the passion in the lyrics of Colossal aim to deliver a meaningful message rather than moan on about how bad their lives are in rhyming couplets. And ultimately one would certainly hope that this song gets somewhere near colossal for it’s chorus alone!" - Song Kick

“Fast paced attacks of adrenaline fuelled indie [with] returns to the epic and picturesque…this demands you sit up and listen" - Music123