The Branco Heist - release new album Monkey Make Noise
In the two or three years that they have been building a reputation as one of the capital’s most scintillating live acts (“…a soulful, muscular sound. Unmissable” – Gary Crowley, BBC London) the music industry has, as any ‘Sound of 2014’ article will tell you, been turning its back on rock music. But London-based 3-piece rock band The Branco Heist simply couldn’t care less, as frontman Christan Slawinski explains, ‘A lot has happened in the last couple of years – we’ve taken management into our own hands; set up our own clubnight [also called Monkey Make Noise] which has funded the album; hit the road; and self released some EPs. We realised that you can do a lot yourself with all the freedom and without the nonsense. If the music industry wants to implode, let it crack on with it – we’ll just carry on being a band and writing massive tunes.’
Named after Branco, a monkey living at London Zoo, Hit the Floor magazine describe them as ‘bringing a classic line of British rock to the table’, and their first long player certainly celebrates this. Recorded at London Road Studios near the capital, and mastered by Tony Draper (resident engineer at Parr Street Studios in Slawinski’s home city of Liverpool), Monkey Make Noise is a homage to their rock influences, and unapologetically so. From the anthemic ‘Brothers’ or angular ‘Ghost’, the retro riffs of ‘Northern Soul’ and ‘The Rose’, blues-influence of ‘Tease’, the live showpiece ‘Good as Gold’, to stirring ballad ‘Chains’, their 14-track debut album is an explosive yet intimate record.
The ethos of The Branco Heist is that this record belongs as much to their growing and loyal fanbase as to themselves. As they continue to sell out shows at some of London’s most popular venues, they prove that there really is a market for unsigned British indie – and at a time when bands are supposedly on the out, to follow a classic line of rock is actually the perfect counter-culture.
Named after Branco, a monkey living at London Zoo, Hit the Floor magazine describe them as ‘bringing a classic line of British rock to the table’, and their first long player certainly celebrates this. Recorded at London Road Studios near the capital, and mastered by Tony Draper (resident engineer at Parr Street Studios in Slawinski’s home city of Liverpool), Monkey Make Noise is a homage to their rock influences, and unapologetically so. From the anthemic ‘Brothers’ or angular ‘Ghost’, the retro riffs of ‘Northern Soul’ and ‘The Rose’, blues-influence of ‘Tease’, the live showpiece ‘Good as Gold’, to stirring ballad ‘Chains’, their 14-track debut album is an explosive yet intimate record.
The ethos of The Branco Heist is that this record belongs as much to their growing and loyal fanbase as to themselves. As they continue to sell out shows at some of London’s most popular venues, they prove that there really is a market for unsigned British indie – and at a time when bands are supposedly on the out, to follow a classic line of rock is actually the perfect counter-culture.
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