This Love Affair

When you hear the words 'This Love Affair', you might be forgiven for imagining a passionate romance which quickly fizzles out, full of whispered unkept promises. But in fact what you get with this band is the exact opposite.....apart from the passion thing of course.

At the end of a long, hard week, some of the Saturday night gig-goers at the Birmingham Bar Academy might have been hoping simply to see their friends, have a few drinks and pass time doing something more interesting than watching Saturday night TV. Likely, few were expecting This Love Affair to take the crowd by storm with such energy.

At their first Birmingham gig since the beginning of March, TLA showed the crowd what they had been missing. And yet they did it with such quietly stated confidence. The talented foursome do not have overdeveloped egos or new-fangled ideas of how they will become 'famous'.
They simply love to perform.

As the band come on stage, lead singer Lee Weston says a quick hello to the crowd and they get straight on with the show. The relatively small, 200 capacity venue appeared to be quite empty during the previous bands: Kid Captain and Grand Union Revival, but quickly filled up with happy faces when TLA began rocking out.

The rest of the band is composed of bass guitarist Andrew La Touche, and brothers Jayme (drums/backing vocals) and Daniel Tovey (guitar/backing vocals). Originally named 'Brite Lites', the quartet formed in 2005 when Lee and Andrew's, and Jayme and Daniel's previous bands, '8 Days Late' and 'McAlister', respectively, disbanded.

Although the new name and image (courtesy of stylish photography from NME photographer Dean Chalkley) has given the band a final, perhaps even more professional gleam, they do not change one thing....these lads have raw talent.

Soon the group are in full swing, kicking off with a punchy new song, Suicide, and moving on to 'Turn the Page' - a touching song about the bitterness that can accompany a love lost. Lee's voice is powerful and impassioned...and he can clearly hold his own against Jayme's strong beat on the drums and two guitars without straining his voice. He is fully engrossed, giving the audience a feeling that they are witnessing something really special - an artist doing what he loves.

The rest of the band were also on form, providing the audience with a well-rehearsed, tight and rhythmic set, in which a mixture of old and new was brought to the table.

The final two songs, both off the band's latest EP 'For the Greater Good': 'Brothers and Sisters' and 'She's My Enemy' - were the perfect end to an exhilarating performance, leaving the audience wanting more.

The only disappointment was that due to the gig being for 14+ years, the set was short, comprising of only seven songs. However, this was more than enough for the audience to catch a glimpse of what these boys can do.

Drummer Jayme, remaining humble as ever, said: "I thought the gig on Saturday went well. The sound was a bit ropey for the first couple of songs, but the sound engineer soon sorted this and we were settled by the third tune in. The audience seemed to be really into us and although we had a lot of friends come along who have seen us play before we played to a lot of new faces too. It was our first gig in Birmingham for nearly two months...we've been gigging in London a fair bit recently, so it was nice to be back in our home town!"

Following the gig, the crowd gathered around to take advantage of the free merchandise the band had kindly laid out at the front. They helped themselves to CDs, button badges and stickers practically as soon as the band had finished.

So, what now for This Love Affair?

Jayme said: "We are currently working hard on new material and are due to record our third EP in June. The plan is to keep gigging around the country to build our fan base, concentrating mainly on Birmingham and London, doing showcase gigs for record labels and management companies and to get as much exposure as we can. We really need management now to take things to the next level!

The goal is to get a deal before the end of the year," he added.

Sounds like there's a busy year ahead for these four Brummie lads....but one thing's for certain...they will go far. And I can't wait to see where.
- Lucy Thomson - Local music mag

"Solid, structured, epic and beautiful. This Love Affair write from the heart and their talent brings the music to life. Soaring, energetic, glorious music."
- Kerrang! Radio

"Your music speaks for itself." - RADIO WM 'BBC INTRODUCING'

WE HAVE A PRESS GALLERY ON OUR MYSPACE PAGE IN OUR PICTURES SECTION -
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=55990061&albumId=1582845 - VARIOUS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2007/11/27/introducing_this_love_affair_feature.shtml

Click link to view recent on-line coverage - BBC RADIO WM