Running Club

From the depths of a basement studio in London, the new Running Club sound is emerging, at decibel levels bound to make neighbouring residents sit up and take notice. Drawing on a rich legacy of UK Indie and Northern Soul, frontman Tim Arber’s carefully crafted lyrics and the band’s hook laden sound are exactly what the current crop of maudlin songsters need to restore the good vibes to British rock’n’roll.

30 September 2010 / Band On The Wall / Manchester
By David Edwards

"RUNNING CLUB manage to completely wrong-foot me. As the 5-piece band start off with a rolling, gently growing number lifted by a touch of brass, I note down that they sound a little like “Stornoway with Muscles”. Too soon David. Too soon. For the waves of sound from their opening track have barely settled before they explode into a quite remarkable hybrid of punk and ska, dressed in impeccable two-tone trombone with spiky guitar crunching underneath it. I then make a quick scribble about how they remind me of later period Clash with a touch of Joe Strummer’s own Mescaleros. Again, that doesn’t entirely do it justice. Because they also manage to pack towering, Springsteen-leaning anthems into the seemingly tight corners of their songs, complete with deft stop-start sections, a devastating variety of musical variation and a great ability to work a song into a powerful conclusion in less than three minutes. It’s a quite magnificent racket, clever without being forced and it helps even more that their frontman is a thoroughly affable and funny bugger. So that’s Stornoway, The Clash, Springsteen and a series of good jokes in 30 minutes? It’s not something you can particularly argue" with. Exceptionally good."

Gill Mill said "A 5 piece drawing on their northern soul heritage, but managing to sound really fresh and not like some talcum powder on the floor retro dullards. Throw in that hint of ska and I for one, am a happy bunny."