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Why you should check them out: Hailing from the South coast, the band's tunes are full of the sunshine that makes Brighton sparkle all summer. Lead singer Matt Eaton started out solo but soon felt lonely up on stage. He then enlisted Phil Sumner, Sam Beer-Pearce, Johny Lamb and Alex White to keep him company.
If Teenage Fanclub were younger, and the Beach Boys rockier, they'd sound like this sunny six-piece. Their latest single Snack Horse is released on May 22. Click here for a preview
Actress Hands are yet another band that find themselves sneaking out of the (weirdly incestuous) Brighton music scene that bought us the likes of Electric Soft Parade, Brakes, Tenderfoot, and British Sea Power. In fact it just so happens that Alex White from ESP is a member of Actress Hands as well. As with those other Brighton based collaborations Brakes and Tenderfoot, Actress Hands seem to have engaged White in a band that would appear to be a far better proposition than his usual home in ESP.
Snack Horse opens with a basic drum pattern and one fingered keyboard tune that sounds as if it has been lifted from a set by a remedial level lounge act playing out their days in a dingy wine bar in Calais. Still, the basic charm of the intro soon fills out into the kind of lush pop that Teenage Fanclub used to deal in. The vocal harmonies that intertwine beautifully pick you up and lay you down in a sun kissed field - the sound of a lazy drunken summer afternoon distilled, somehow made all the more potent by a woozy trumpet.
B-side Being Sure is a little rougher around the edges, hinting at the same Neil Young influences that inspired J Mascis. The dreamy summer feel remains in tact though, as a hazy tune makes itself felt. Actress Hands create songs that feel like the warmth of the sun on the back of your neck, or the chill of dew slowly making you socks wet as it seeps through the broken soles of your Doc Martens.
For starters, their occasionally singing drummer's called Sam Beer-Pearce, which is the best alco-friendly name for a pop star since dEUS' Tom Barman. But there appears to be rather more to approve of than just that in the case of Actress Hands. For instance, the A-side here is exactly the sort of exuberant nugget that Graham Coxon had seemingly forgotten how to write until a couple of years back, choogling along with a scuffed joie de vivre, while, fascinatingly, 'Being Sure' is smartly collegiate, urgently brief, and riddled with snarly guitars in the manner of prime AC Acoustics, as well as referencing the remarkable debut Propaganda album. See what we were saying about Brighton bands earlier?
With the amount of corking bands coming out of Brighton at the moment one gets to thinking that maybe there’s a market out there for bottling up whatever that hidden ingredient is and letting the rest of the nation’s pop community share in its miracle minerals. As with Liverpool, Brighton is literally pissing an enviable musical roster made to measure at will, without wanting or more truthfully being arsed to provide a never ending list (just check out recent missives or else the smattering of finely tuned youngsters in these ramblings) it’s seems not a week goes by when the Singled Out shed doesn’t have at least one Brighton postmarked parcel containing a CD dancing on it’s cute and well formed welcome mat.
The latest additions vying for your affection are Actress Hands. Formed in 2002 initially as ‘a one man avantpunkrock band’ (press releases words not mine), Matt Eaton (for it is he who was the one man avantpunkband) decided to recruit similar minded bodies in order to create the ultimate live experience which to date have culminated in acclaimed reviews for all corners. With a second album due shortly for release entitled ’Cattle Grid’ (with the first full length last years ’Why the Sale?’ due for repress and re-release to) this tasty two track release provides for a tempting taste of what’s to come.
The slyly effervescent ’Snack Horse’ is a honey combed toasting of good to be alive brassy fanfares shimmering resplendently beside sun shining sounds that have been reclining in the midday West Coast heat all lovingly packaged into a busting with an infectious glow three minute slice of radio trouncing hip buckling romping pop. Think of those early pop fixated moments from Jumbo’s back catalogue meeting head on the crisp but breezy bitter sweet mindset of the much missed L’Augmentation, nudge up the power pop dial that sees elements of classic Micro Disney toying with the vibrantly candy coated mixture made up of prime Go Betweens and Boo Radleys moments.
Flip side features the slightly more wired and less audaciously immediate 2 minute dash that is ‘Being Sure’. Paying it’s dues in the main to Glasgow’s finest - Teenage Fan Club - in particular the ‘A Catholic Education’ era found here with its DNA seemingly cross pollinated with the spiked melodic thrust of Dinosaur Jr, this cutie possesses more than enough savvy and breathlessly swooning zest to have the most casual viewer shaking their tats to. actresshandsmusic.co.uk
Brakes + The 1990s + Actress Hands @ Mean Fiddler 25 April @ musicomh.com (click link to read) Actress Hands were first up, given the usual thankless task of warming up a crowd which was still in the pub. Nevertheless, they turned in an interesting set, vibrant harmony led rock mixing in with Matt Eaton's deadpan comic interludes: "up in Stroud last week - big adder problem. Any problem with adders in Charing Cross Road?" Well, maybe you had to be there.
Actress Hands have only had one full-length release, one EP and one single, yet they have already had several sold-out gigs. This suggests that the Brighton 4-piece have a lot of hype surrounding them, and they show plenty of potential on this release.
‘Snack Horse’ has the catchiness which has become almost part and parcel of any Actress Hands recording. While the summery feel to the track will provoke comparisons with the likes of The Beach Boys, Actress Hands have just as much in common with pop-punk outfits such as The Ataris. They appear, however, to be more ambitious than most ‘genre’ bands, perhaps influenced by the presence of Electric Soft Parade’s Alex White on guitar and vocals. White gives the band – which started out as a solo project for Matt Eaton – an added dimension with the introduction of more prominent guitars evoking memories of the much-missed My Vitriol.
B-side ‘Being Sure’ shows the versatility of the band, showing the greater aggression which has seen Actress Hands described as ‘Teenage Fanclub with bigger balls’. Although the sub-2-minute running time makes the track feel like a b-side, it retains qualities of its own, the greater aggression moving the band closer to …Trail of Dead territory.
Although neither track stands out individually, when looking at the two tracks as an ‘item’, they complement each other more than adequately, and show that we should probably believe the hype.
The sun is out. The new addition to my cat family is learning the art of pillaging bumblebees and blackbirds. And this actually makes an adequate soundtrack. Must be the laidback keyboards. Not forgetting the cornet (there's a certain something about a cornet that says summer is on the way, do you not think?). And, teamed with inoffensive indie-slash-pop laden with Teenage Fanclub melodies, with a bloke from Electric Soft Parade on vocals and guitar, it's worked for this lot anyway, who were tipped as one of the Top 4 bands (yes, count 'em, 4!) to come out of Brighton by the NME last year. And who am I to argue with that? Though pleasant enough, I felt it a bit Boo Radleys to really float my boat these days. Personally, I prefer the B-side. Though it could do with more "je ne sais quoi", it has some "get up and go". The Beatles-esque harmonies are a nice touch too. But, best of all, it sounds a lot like my favourite Oompa loompa song in the new "Willy Wonka" flick, where Veruca Salt gets chucked down the chute and it all goes mellow yellow and sixties. Floaty dance moves akimbo being no bad thing in my estimation. Hoorah. See what you reckon when this is released 22nd May, 2006. actresshandsmusic.co.uk
heathenangel.co.uk Has reviews of the Actress Hands single by Ian Chambers (click on reviews, then singles)