Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
This bustling Britpop trio from Raleigh is preparing to release their debut full-length, Songs from the Imperial Hotel. Like the band's namesake (taken from the title of an early Blur album), Parklife favors bright, melodic rock with bits of sonic swirl and anthemic punch. - -CP Independent Weekly
"Songs from the Imperial Hotel is the newest recording by North Carolina rock band Parklife. Think ethereal, instantly catchy power pop. Think Brit-rock, yeah, you know the good kind with a moody flair and a singer that becomes the song and the guitars lift you up and drop you off at a junction of bliss and contentment. There aren’t any weak tracks on the 10-song collection and it's obvious the band has evolved a confident vibe. There’s a touch of U2, the energy of punk, literate lyrics and even a shade of some of the perkier Beatles stuff. Folks in radioland best pay attention, toss that generic flavor-of-the-month crap, and lock onto Parklife. The world will be a better place for it." - Samir Shukla – Creative Loafing
"What a joy it must be to be a Raleigh guitar popper in Parklife, who…have made what amounts to one of the catchiest, most driving, influences-on-the-sleeve records to emerge from the Triangle in years. The dreamy "President's War" brings the space oddity of Bowie back from orbit, while the polished hook of "Someday Lovesong" and other assorted gems unearthed here swell, sway and stick, revealing a band beginning to bear the burden of its weighty Britpop brand name." - Grayson Currin, Independent Weekly
"Parklife, a classic rock-inspired trio that has been denied its due for much too long (thanks, in part, to the collapse of Mammoth Records and the rise of local corporate radio) despite playing some of the most ambitious and engaging melodies in town." - Rick Cornell, Independent Weekly
"...once in a while a band emerges from the GigAmerica "demo pile" that makes everyone in the office sit bolt-upright and take notice. That's exactly what happened with the Parklife EP. Excellent songs, strong hooks, riveting performances pepper this disc from start to finish." - www.gigamerica.com
"Parklife coax guitars into soaring, moody hard pop while the vocals bring a heady rush to neck muscles. Their new EP, Lonely Eyes and Amsterdam, is ready for the stores and, with cuts like "Butterflies and Hurricanes," they are set to invade radio faster than you can blink your eyes." - Samir Shukla, Creative Loafing magazine
"The name is recognizable as the title of Blur's 1994 opus, and the correlation sticks: Parklife makes British influenced rock driven by a pop fondness for chorus and solo memorabilia. Lonely Eyes and Amsterdam nailed the formula, but expect a rougher, homier feel for their to-be-released Songs from the Imperial Hotel, recorded at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium." - Independent Weekly
Discography
Songs from the Imperial Hotel (Summer '06)
--"Someday Lovesong" featured on Time Know Music CD Compilation, distributed at Barnes & Noble College bookstores by Time Magazine as one of the bands to know.
Lonely Eyes and Amsterdam (2002)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
To put it simply, Parklife is a rock n' roll band that hearkens back to a time when that term really meant something. Drawing on a variety of classic and modern influences, Parklifes upcoming album, Songs From the Imperial Hotel, features honest, forthright songwriting and hook-laden, powerful soundscapes that can encompass both Hendrix-style riffs and Catherine Wheel choruses, or channel Radiohead, Oasis and Pink Floyd within a single four-minute opus, or make you imagine what it would be like for the Flaming Lips to revisit a Ziggy Stardust show. But while the band is not afraid to attribute its influences, it doesnt necessarily wear them on its sleeve. Instead, Parklife has evolved as a band by absorbing and refining those influences to develop its own powerful, unique 21st century rock and roll sound.
Parklife was formed in 2002 when longtime friends Rob Clay and Sam Clowney took a few days off from their constant touring -- Clay was playing bass with Capitol Records Evan and Jaron and Mercury recording artist Cravin' Melon, and Clowney was wielding guitar with Mercury recording artist The Veldt -- to jam on some new songs the two had been writing. Drawn to the fire of pursuing their own sounds and ideas, Clay and Clowney dropped their sideman gigs and committed full time to Parklife.
The young band's relentlessly energy, enthusiastic live shows and unique, genre-bending sound quickly nabbed the attention of Grammy-nominated producer John Custer (Cry of Love, Corrosion of Conformity, Chris Whitley), who immediately took the band into Raleigh's fabled JAG Studios, where Parklife recorded its debut EP, Lonely Eyes and Amsterdam. From the driving, melodic rock of "Butterflies and Hurricanes" to the lush sonic landscapes of "San Jacinto," Amsterdam's four songs captured the sound the band had been developing in its live shows: Clay's engaging, honest vocals; soaring guitars that seem to blend elements of Hendrix, U2, the Cocteau Twins, Miles Davis, Wilco and Sonic Youth; and powerful, melodic bass lines owing as much to Mingus as McCartney, John Paul Jones and Joy Division. To get a sense of the bands songs, try imagining what the Replacements might have sounded like had Paul Westerberg grown up in 80s Manchester instead of Minnesota in the 1970s.
The combination of strong songwriting and explosive live shows quickly earned the band an enthusiastic and growing fan base, not only garnering the group support slots with Wilco, Better Than Ezra and Seven Mary Three, but critical acclaim and buzz in the industrys A&R tip sheets. Thanks to non-stop touring and strong Internet buzz, the band sold out the initial pressing of Amsterdam, and then made their way into Mitch Easter's (R.E.M., Pavement, Let's Active) famed Fidelitorium and Low Watt studio in Raleigh, N.C. to record what will become the band's full length debut, Songs From the Imperial Hotel. Recorded with drummer Jason Bone, who then joined the band, Imperial Hotel finds the band turning the melodic Brit-rock of Amsterdam on its head, emerging with a powerful, dynamic album of unadulterated rock n roll that pushes into the realm of power pop. For example, the Gram Parsons-influenced opening of the album's first track, "Memphis," yields to a closing crescendo of feedback and pounding drums at the end, while "Someday Lovesong" is a melodic, power-pop rave up that revels in the sheer joy of rock and roll. And ultimately, thats what Songs From the Imperial Hotel is all about: timeless rock n roll in all its glorious rebellions and ambitions. Within the confines of this single album youll hear the bands influences, which range from Led Zeppelin to the Smiths, R.E.M. to Nina Simone, Dylan to Public Enemy, and U2 and the Beatles. As a result, Songs From the Imperial Hotel sounds like everything and nothing you've ever heard -- all at once.
Parklife is currently on the road as it puts the finishing touches on the new album. For the latest news about the band, its tour schedule or to hear free sample song tracks, visit the bands website at www.parklifeband.com.
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