Music
Press
FULL PAGE FEATURE & COVERMOUNT CD SEP / OCT 2010:
'"Bath's Ulysses are currently wrapping up their debut LP 'Everybody's Strange' with legendary producer Marco Migliari at Real World Studios, having begun recording sessions last year with Bruno Ellingham (Delphic, New Order etc).
Fingers are crossed that Shindig! cohort Pete Fowler will provide the artwork.
ANDY MORTEN caught up with guitarist Luke Smyth following a summer of best ever gigs at the likes of IPO Liverpool and Llama Fest and before they vanish to the USA for IPO New York and a short East Coast tour in November.
SHINDIG!: So when and why did Ulysses get it together?
LS: Over time we drifted together, as like-minded individuals often will. Julyan (Wells-Cathedral, bass / vocals) and I first started making music together after sharing the same pool of ladies some years ago. Tom (Sartoryal, guitar / vocals) joined not long after that and then we were completed a year and a half ago by the arrival of drum / harmony vocal powerhouse Shane Maxymus.
Why? It's what we do!
SD: 'Sometimes' sounds like a collision of glam beats, acid guitar and commercial song writing savvy. Discuss.
LS: Like Robert Fripp once said, "the head, the heart and the hands" - all three have to be aligned and we do that with glam-rock, boogie beats, pop songs and kick-ass guitars.
People have called us up on our retro stylings but we are liberated by these influences, not imprisoned by them - this IS the sound of now!
SD: So what's next? Album? World Tour? Solo careers?
LS: Next for Ulysses is album 'Everybody's Strange', out by late autumn. Hopefully a tour of East Coast USA and more exposure, more gigs, more music - whatever we can get!
As for solo careers, it's highly unlikely - we have everything we need right here."
- Shindig! Magazine
Discography
Feeling Evil LP (Boobytrap Recs) 2007
Why Why Why / Let's Ride (Shifty Disco Recs) 2008
Lesson One (Classic Rock Magazine covermount CD) 2009
Searching (Classic Rock Magazine covermount CD) 2009
Black Music EP (7Digital / Just For Kicks Music) 2009
Sometimes (Shindig! Magazine covermount CD / Download) 2010
Why Why Why? (IPO 13 CD Compilation) Not Lame Recs USA 2010
Everybody's Strange LP (Damaged Goods Recs) 2011
Black Music EP still streaming on myspace & received worldwide radio play (BBC, indies USA / Europe / Australia) & press (Classic Rock Mag UK / Rockerilla Mag Italy) etc.
Photos
Bio
BIO by Delia Dansette (Artrocker Mag / Recs):
Bath is a village of calm tranquillity and decorum. The gentle waft of chamber music floats through the air to soothe the frazzled souls of the over-charged American tourists and photo-snapping Japanese parties. But what is there for the restless natives of Bath? What sounds will entice the savage beasts of Somerset from their lair and onto the dance-floor, or at least the first five rows of a pop concert? How about a ready-made party? One in a similar vein to the early ‘70s travelling fun-show of Canned Heat, or perhaps working on becoming the true-life take on the unfulfilled dream/vision/not-quite-real spectacle of the Rolling Stones Rock’n’Roll Circus…. Ulysses are a band who bring their own caravan of entertainment with them. Their audience feeds from their music and feeds them back appreciation in a symbiotic soul-love-power sunburst of warmth and noise.
References? Pop Levi, Patrick Wolf, Bobby Conn, Kings Of Leon, taking from the raw blues style that White Stripes articulate their songs from, but with added zest, pop padding and harmonies. There’s even some early ‘70s Bowie and ‘Electric Warrior’-period T.Rex in the mix.
Currently in the studio with EMI Publishing house engineer Mark Aubrey & Goldfrapp / New Order engineer Bruno Ellingham, the charm and wistful glitter of Ulysses is being added to ten new stompers, destined for their forthcoming debut LP 'Black Music', full details of which will be posted here soon.
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