Make up your own mind and don't listen to some wanker critic (entertainment.iafrica.com)
Anxious British indie punks dis an obnoxious, name-dropping careerist (fluxblog.org)
Fuck ‘em if a record of great pop tunes can’t melt their cold hipster hearts (bzangygroink.co.uk)
Give Blood @ buddyhead.typepad.com from December 2005.
15 British Artists To Hear Right Now @ glidemagazine.com from November 2005. Formed by BSP member Eamon Hamilton, Brakes full-length debut, Give Blood offers discontented and satirical rock musings (similar to Art Brut) on the music industry and life itself. On the song entitled “Cheney,” the ten-second track consists of the band repeatedly yelling “Cheney” followed by the sentiment: “Stop being a dick.” There’s a lot of cursing, a reference to Karen O and Electrelane, a shut the hell up song, and even some alt-country melodies thrown in. Hamilton’s vocal inflections are akin to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah lead singer Alex Ounsworth as Hamilton and band rant and rave throughout this scabrous and fun album.
Brakes at #24 in the 2005 albums list at the US University newspaper The Villanovan: What happens when you take one-fifth of BSP, one-fifth of The Tenderfoot and two-thirds of The ESP? You get Brakes, that's what. Coming across as the mother of all Brit-rock side projects, the band's debut, "Give Blood," is a powder keg of energy, with the explosive songs to prove it. Though most of those tracks are under two minutes long, they range amidst such topics as answering the telephone, falling in love and Dick Cheney. That, along with outstanding musicianship, proves nothing can stop Brakes. Key tracks: "All Night Disco Party," "Ring A Ding Ding," "Jackson".
SoundsXP pick of 2005 Brakes are at #5 in Albums and the #2 Live Act.
Brakes at no. 8 in Playlouder's Readers Poll Top 50 Albums of 2005 and at no. 33 in their Contributors Poll Top 50 Albums They say: Charming baldy Eamon and his ESP and Tenderfoot palls was hot on the heels of his day job band BSP in PlayLouder's poll. And, frankly, why not? 'Give Blood' was not only one of the most musically spasmodic of this year's British guitar albums - ranging from twenty second punk blasts, through country stompers and a Jesus & Mary Chain cover - but also one of the most biting and amusing, filled with barbs and snipes at the less talented mortals blighting our airwaves. PlayLouder said: "Give Blood is an album that embraces that noble British tradition of being witty, wry and taking the piss while being able to have a chuckle at one's own self"
Brakes at no. 41 in Playlouder's Contributors Poll Top 50 singles 2005 All Night Disco Party: The cleverest single from Brakes' corking 'Give Blood' debut to be released thus far (debut 'Pick Up The Phone' was an intense 20-second impatience, while 'Ring A Ding Ding', though ace, was largely catchy via it's "I've got a monkey in my pocket got a stone in my shoe" surrealism) 'All Night Disco Party' had an um-da-um-da rhythm that burbled away in the background like The Smiths 'Girlfriend In A Coma'. It felt like the sound of party heard from outside, bursting into life with the sounds and scents of boozy abandon and some twerp doing a keg-stand with one of those boxes of wine when the patio door is flung asunder, as you're busted in the garden with your hand in the smalls of the hostess's amour. PlayLouder said: "All Night Disco Party' takes Brakes formula of squashing as many ideas into as short a time as possible and making a very weird, infectious pop song out of it"
Stereo Effect's Albums of 2005 Brakes are at number 11. Supergroups never had it so good. Brakes shot everyone a cheeky grin when they crawled from their day jobs as international indie heroes in BSP, ESP and the Tenderfoot, and released an album that shocked the world into paying attention to the underdogs. Eamon's voice winces and warbles through an albums worth of alt.country ditties and disco thumpers. Best Track: "All Nite Disco Party".
Buddyhead's 20 Best Albums Of 2005 Brakes, Give Blood. This is the keyboard player from BSP along with some of his best mates from Tenderfoot and ESP. Weird Scottish (Brighton) dudes singing catchy tongue-in-cheek songs about bailing hay, snorting speed, chasing girls, losing their minds on MDMA, and smashing up their lives. Their vibe kinda reminds us of Beehive & The Barracudas if they had weirdo Euro accents and thought soccer was called football. Plus they do a cover of The Jesus & Mary Chain’s “Sometimes Always” and that old country song “Jackson” (with some help from that hot blonde girl from The Duke Spirit on vocals) so you know these guys are cool.
Independent Albums Of The Year (Dec 24th) Brakes Give Blood. The seaside supergroup features members of ESP, BSP and the Tenderfoot. Brakes may be a side project, but the combined talents here produced 16 cracking songs, spanning just 30 minutes. Country-punk was the main flavour involved on this hedonistic record.
Glasto '05 review @ noenry.co.uk "The first act I caught were Brakes, a creation of ESP and BSP members. I was alerted to them by the Pipettes - I do believe I have waxed lyrical over “the prettiest girls you’ve ever met” previously - who were doing a guest vocal on one song of the set in the Guardian Lounge. As ever charmed by the polka dot princesses - I defy anyone, anyone! not to feel their heart jump out of their chest as they hear Rose Pip singing “I love you” - I was rather converted to Brakes too. A song about “watching bands in a venue in Brighton” contained the lyric “Shut the fuck up, I’m trying to watch the band!” - don’t we all know that feeling far too well?"
Brakes – Leeds Cockpit 28/10/05 "...Brakes may never be as big as British Sea Power, perhaps lacking the mainstream commercial quality and indeed drive that is needed to penetrate the music world. They are and will remain, however, a cornucopia of artistic talent, who may have their fingers in many pies, but not to the detriment of their music"
Brakes Borderline, London (18/10/05) (scroll down) "...Brakes come across like they've never even heard of the word genre"
Brakes 23/10/05 @ The Zodiac, Oxford Not an ESP friendly review (or even BSP/Tenderfoot for that matter)
Brakes @ Night and Day 16th October 2005 "...Brakes are psychotically addictive... Not even The Ramones were this darn fast!"
Brakes, 16 October, Night & Day, Manchester "...heroic guitar-swinging from Tom White who, freed from his Electric Soft Parade drumkit, doesn’t actually stand still for more than a breath at any point..."
Brakes - Brighton Concorde 2 - 26/10/05 by Ian "... Tom does have a tendency to break into the guitar intro to ‘The Doyle’ by Actress Hands between songs, but that’s understandable as I’m sure we’d all do the same if we could play it. Eamon also once again proves to be a great frontman. Who would have thought upon seeing him that he could come out with such a powerful and distinctive singing voice? Or even that the keyboard player from British Sea Power could write such good and entertaining songs. Impressive stuff all right..."
lsrfm.com "...yes, the singer is a member of British Sea Power (animal costumes! trees on stage!), and yes, two of the other three do make up The Electric Soft Parade. NME credentials firmly established then..."
atomicduster.com (scroll down) "...The lead track features not only that great hook, but a cutting guitar that rips through the sub-two minute tune. Also offered are the Johnny Cash standard 'Jackson' & Camper Van Beethoven's 'Shut Us Down', before settling for another original Brakes tune to end proceedings. Value or what!"
contactmusic.com "...Not sure if the singer is Eamon, Mark, Tom or Alex, but whichever one it is they are even trying to copy Brian Ferry’s unique method of singing but have failed at it..."
pitchforkmedia.com "...The party line on the UK's Brakes is (a) Marvelously better than the sum of its Tender-Sea-Powerade parts..."
Brakes @ Cardiff Barfly at Jonny's Site "...while Franz Ferdinand and even the Arctic 'We Won't Make It To Three Albums' Monkeys are getting NME covers, it seems they have missed the fact that there is something of a scene in Brighton. You'd think the NME would make something out of the fact that British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade and The Pipettes all come from the same place. Obviously, they're not angular or emo enough for mass media coverage but that cannot disguise the fact that all three bands are good. REALLY good" (click link to read)
Brakes, Borderline, London @ The Observer Tom and Alex White, on guitar and drums respectively, are the young brothers who formed the highly successful Electric Soft Parade. This is not their main job... Alex White and Marc Beatty are a really tight rhythm section; they gallop headlong through the group's first single 'Pick up the Phone' and fire into 'I Can't Stand to Stand beside You' with a hammering bassline and neat snare work... Tom White really enjoys his playing too, ringing out jangling tremelo lines and squealing, almost comical feedback from his guitar.
Give Blood @ junkmedia.org "...Hamilton has a certain charm but he'd probably be kicked out of choir practice as soon as he opened his mouth"
Playlouder "...we've found ourselves returning to Give Blood rather more than the British Sea Power album this year, and, having heard it, we really wouldn't mind if the White boys never concentrated on another Electric Soft Parade album again" (Huh?!)
The Downloader "...It’s so much fun; you’ll want to play it again and again. And again"
Delicious Goldfish "...Ring a ding ding sounds like Husker Du given over to amorphous Camper Van Beethoven mannerisms. The lines are repeated as passion takes over the track"
Popex "...The title track of the latest release from the Brakes launches forth at you with riffs that remind me of the Sex Pistols and then the full force hits in indie rock fashion... We are back on more familiar Brakes territory with the brash and urgent Shut Us Down and then a country music reprise with If I Should Die Tonight"
r13.co.uk "...RING A DING DING captures all the joyful mad weirdness of Brian Eno and early Roxy music. I can't tell you how much I love it, it's an absolute stunner... Shut Us Down is pure Neil Young"
Brakes 18/10/05 @ Borderline (the support act's got some interesting lyrics) "...Brakes may not ever be deemed essential in many peoples eyes, but if you come across anybody who doesn’t enjoy them on some level, make a note to never, ever value their opinion again. EVER"
angryape.com "...Ring A Ding Dong is an infectious blend of madman vocals about "monkey macaroni", chugging guitars and swirling Hammond organs for a 2 minute garage-rock monster. B-side Jackson is another track from album Give Blood; an equally addictive number with vocal contributions from Leila Moss (The Duke Spirit), and Shut Us Down is a 1 minute blast of bluesy-rock riffs The Rolling Stones would have been proud of"
makenoiseanddance.co.uk "...‘Ring A Ding Ding’ beautifully illustrates Eamon Hamilton’s vocal hybrid of country and punk, producing the anomalistic sound of Eamon’s erratic yelping vocal over punchy country-punk guitars. Incorporate some dynamic drumming to create an undoubtedly jerky danceable number"
soundsxp.com "...Forget the CD version, even though you do get the enthusiastic rendition of country standard bicker-fest Jackson, featuring Leila Moss out of the Duke Spirit, and a Camper van Beethoven cover. The vinyl contains If I Should Die Tonight, that I promise you gets closer to capturing the gauche songwriting genius of Will Oldham than the thousand or so studious acoustic guitar pickers who slave daily over the task ever will. Like I said, genius"
musicomh.com "...the opening bars of guitar could sweep into Jean Genie"
Crud Magazine (scroll down) "...even listening to the album which buzzes past in a flash there's no hint that they're about to become a classic little singles band. But by crikey with a cowbell, they have!"
Review: soundbites.typepad.com
Photo & review: oneloudernyc.com
Photos & review: deathofaparty.com
More photos: flickr.com/photos/eatsdirt
Review: wavedrumor.blogspot.com
Photos: flickr.com/photos/onelouder
Give Blood @ longislandpress.com (scroll down) Maybe bands are like lovers: One day you're in a relationship that makes sense, with the one person who was meant for you. Then the next night you're getting drunk at a party when you meet someone else and find an immediate and irrefutable spark, one that makes you second-guess all your prior romantic notions.
randomville.com reviews Give Blood "Heard About Your Band" is a sarcastic portrayal of the insular indie scene... (click link)
unpopular.typepad.com mentions the new Brakes single (scroll down)
Give Blood @ Silence Is A Rhythm Too You're So Pretty is a lovely, twangy tune that shows the alt-country flavor off pretty well - I hear a wee bit of Grandaddy in this tune too... The band also throw out a bunch of short-burst songs, including one which details the band's political stance - Cheney. It's only 10 seconds long - clear and concise and there's no doubt about which way they lean! (click link to read it all)
Ring A Ding Ding @ xplosure.com Rather unique this, rather edgy country falavad alternative indie style rock ... almost towards Kings Of Leon ... but a little sweeter. Ring A Ding Ding pulls in at 1min 38secs, Jackson (the town not the bizarre) - 3'07", then the short and sharp Shut Us Down is 1'18", If I Should Die Tonight 2'02". They may feel the need at some point to follow The Rakes example and extend one or two of these, then again it's always a good idea to leave the audience wanting more. Different and rather good, see them launch this single at Cardiff Barfly on Thursday 20th October.
Ring A Ding Ding @ disordermagazine.com They don't like it much (click link to read)
Islington Academy review @ The Guardian Hamilton is the band's intense core, sweat pouring over his prominent brow, his eyes as piercing as his high whine hopscotches over You'll Always Have a Place to Stay. "This is a short one," he says introducing the sucker punch punk of Comma Comma Full Stop. It's just the first of Brakes' brilliant flashes of aggression. Pick Up the Phone recalls Monsterland's Car on Fire and sends Tom White into electrified twitching. The slap of Cheney ("It's about a political arsehole," Hamilton tells us) burns beyond its 10 seconds...
Brakes at the Windmill 6/8/05 It's a great set, finished off nicely with a cover of Camper Van Beethoven's Shut us Down (a b-side on the new CD single) It's a really good review, have a look.
Ring A Ding Ding @ tangents.co.uk ... for the connection spotters there’s links here to BSP, ESP, The Tenderfoot, and from thence to Blind Cowboys, Monster Bobby, Pipettes, and no doubt a heap more of Brighton’s brightest and best.
Give Blood @ indieworkshop.com Much as BSP like to sport strange woodland animals on their tours and prefer to play in barns and local county halls over some glitzy London coke den, Brakes follow a similar vein. Ditch the industry whores, knowitalls and corporate groupie-wannabes, don a straw hat, pick up your boots and Pixies records...
Give Blood @ kansascity.com Brakes comprise members of three U.K. bands: BSP, ESP and Tenderfoot. Consequently, their music is a shambling, raucous and ambitious hybrid of post-punk, hard-rock, lean-to indie-rock and British rock with some cockeyed alt-country rammed in the mess. The stumble-drunk cover of “Jackson” doesn’t touch June with Johnny (or Nancy Sinatra with Lee Hazelwood) but it serves its purpose as a moment of reason and clarity — something that’s hard to come by on the 15 other cuts. Some of those are spasms of nonsense, like the shrieking 10-second appeal to our vice president (“Cheney”); others are seismic outbursts of joy or anger, some personal (“Pick Up the Phone”), some political (“What’s in It for Me?”), some editorial (“All Night Disco Party”). Once in a while, faint resemblances to the Smiths or Talking Heads come and go, but for the most part “Give Blood” is of a sound — and hygiene and manners — all its own.
Give Blood @ treblezine.com Those like me who became interested in hearing the Brakes upon discovering that the band was made up of members of BSP, ESP and Tenderfoot, might be in some shock to discover how different the music of Brakes is to that of its predecessors. After the initial shock, however, there is a feeling of elatedness at discovering how great the Brakes are... Brakes are so different than the bands the members came from that you can't really compare, you should simply ignore the history and find the album a wonderful piece of punk, country, folk and rock (we do!!)
Give Blood @ critic.co.nz The two chief musical themes are punk, as played by people too good at music and song-writing to make it sound like anyone else does, and city-boy country. Both styles are bent around The Brakes merciful inability to play them the way they are intended by purists. The resulting sound, at its best, is not something you'll find in too many other places... an intelligent punk band with a slide guitarist and a sense of humour doesn't seem like such a stupid idea. This is one worth playing over and over, and that's the best way to discover all its charm (we do!!)
There's a review of Give Blood @ aversion.com
Brakes in Spin Brakes will play two nights at New York's Pianos club 3-4 October.
The Brakes official website has a gallery from the Ring A Ding Ding Video Shoot 3rd/4th Sept.
Brakes pics at musicpictures.com You need to join and log in to see them larger but it's free.
Give Blood @ dripfed.co.uk Comma Comma Full Stop consists of an explosion of vicious guitars and drums behind screams of Comma Comma Comma Comma Full Stop!
Give Blood @ chromewaves.net ESP get a mention.
Give Blood @ BBC Nottingham From the sound of the Thrills to the manic rush of an adrenalised Ramones (the 7 second thrash that is Cheney) Brakes leave you wanting more.
Brakes @ fluxblog.org Anxious British indie punks dis an obnoxious, name-dropping careerist who chats up his band with them between sets at a Liars show. Kiss off comes in the form of a spirited "whatever, dude!" in a mock American accent.
Silence Is A Rhythm Too (Disco Party) It's got the funky, spongy, up and down bass, the syncopated disco beats, and goofy lyrics sung in a fairly goofy fashion. It also has some killer rock breaks in it.
Brakes @ fluxblog.org "You'll Always Have A Place To Stay" is the song with greater staying power, the one that has left a lingering imprint on my psyche.
Brakes @ bzangygroink.co.uk "I notice the fashionable indie sites are already queuing up to slag this album. Fuck ‘em if a record of great pop tunes can’t melt their cold hipster hearts"
Brakes @ pitch.com "playful, energetic tunes that deftly cross the borders between punk, glam, pop and -- most impressively -- country"
barsandguitars.blogspot.com "Brakes is a strange and naughty little side project" (click link to read it)
Give Blood @ pitchforkmedia.com (click to read)
antimusic.com (the site has lots of ads) Album out in the US September 13th. "Give Blood is born of robust comradery and just enough magnetic tape to capture the incredible interplay between these four lads... It's the heart of the music that makes this diverse collection of songs sound so coherent. Recorded live to tape in just five days, Give Blood gives it all"
rollingstone.com Some might say that Brakes are not a supergroup. Indeed -- here at Well Hung at Dawn, any band featuring members of British Sea Power, Tenderfoot and the Electric Soft Parade (they'll always be the Soft Parade to us) is actually a superdupergroup!
I don't think I linked to playlouder.com's Give Blood review before.
Glastonbury 2005 at playlouder.com Extract: It got kinda funky, in a spectacularly exciting way, for 'All Night Disco Party', an uber-rockin', hot-poppin' choon with a super-smart video and a wicked bass'n'drum combo courtesy of Alex White and Marc Beatty. It was nice, too, to see Tom White equally immaculate in a black suit and barely-splashed wellies. This reviewer can report that this cosy situation did not last forever, however. Around five minutes after leaving stage, oops - the boy went down. Not pretty. All up his back. Brown. Ew.
Give Blood @ Yahoo Launch Eamon purrs and yelps and does his best to be as coy and camp as possible. There's a word you don't see very often when discussing The Modern Indie: camp. Most haircut indie bands are far too preoccupied with their latest styling session to risk something as potentially uncool as being camp, but Brakes - being a side project, being Not Serious, one assumes - revel in it. Within the first five minutes of this 16 track, 29 minute album, we've already had Eamon pouting like Steve Harley fronting Pavement in "Ring A Ding Ding" and cooing "ooh-hoo, get me a pony!" with all the panache of a country drag queen in "NY Pie"... You can't help feeling that, with a little less self-indulgence and a bit more camp brilliance, Brakes could be the side project that turned into something special.
Give Blood @ XFM Extract: Give Blood sees Brakes stand on their own eight feet as a band, as well as serving as a deft reminder as to how talented those White brothers are. Brakes is a powerful parade of electricity, but, above all things, it's not soft. It, my friends, is rock hard.
Richard's Metropolis Review @ incendiarymag.com Brakes were on at 1pm and I was hungry for more Brakes action after the previous evening’s set at the Paradiso... Brakes succeeded in wrecking the sound system, causing a 30 minute delay before the following act.
Brakes at Truck @ drownedinsound.com Scroll down to find it. A few lines... "Brakes ramshackle British Foot Parade wonder"... "All I've heard about this lot so far is British Sea Power this and Electric Soft Parade that. After all the hype I was happy to have my scepticism proven firmly wrong"
Brakes at Truck "Brakes brief bursts of pop brilliance provide many with the opportunity for a short jig while sheltering from the rain". Also see their Truck pics From: oxfordbands.com
Brakes at Truck @ ph-uk.co.uk Brakes were performing in the Trailer Park Tent next, so I duly edged my way round to the front. They are a side project composed of members of other bands-British Sea Power, Electric Soft Parade. I had seen them before, so knew enough to expect some short sharp songs and a degree of both wit and musical skill. I was not disappointed today. I think my favourite has to be their Comma, Comma, Comma, and Full stop! Song. It takes only as long to play, as it does to say that sentence! Probably the shortest song I have ever heard. They certainly got the crowd in the tent moving with the beat and tight musical sound (they couldn't review the ESP as they couldn't get in) Photos: Eamon + Marc @ Truck
Give Blood @ splendidezine.com "By the end of Give Blood, it's clear that this mutual comfort is what draws Brakes' members together"
Give Blood @ entertainment.iafrica.com This bit's rather different to most reviews:
If I was to compare this album to the love of a beautiful woman I'd say it would be the one-night stand I met in a student club and shagged in the girls toilet, before having a laugh at the bar, getting drunk and going home with someone else. Basically, this means you get sixteen short songs on an album that delivers about 30 minutes of dirty fun (which I don't find a problem cos I don't listen to music during sex)
And it's mostly about getting drunk, doing coke, getting high and coming down, with loads of up-yours given to the music industry and the system in general. What strikes me most about this album is not the music or the album cover or even the band members, but it's the variety of crap that is written about them on the internet. Everyone has an opinion, listen to it, make up your own mind and don't listen to some wanker critic.
Original NME advert for the BRAKES tour Now out of date. See official website for new dates.
MORE BRAKES REVIEWS