The Futureheads: Broke Up The Time [mp3]

Boy, what a comeback. You know the story – smash debut, ‘difficult’ second and now for the third – ‘This Is Not The World’ is bold, brash and as in-yer-face as way back when these boys first embedded into your consciousness in 2004. After a silently busy year away from the spotlight (after parting with their then record label 679), The Futureheads embraced the punk-rock ethic like never before. Along with their management company Big Life, Barry, Ross, Jaff and Dave hatched plans to release their third album independently and in doing so took control of their own destiny. They returned in late 2007 with a free download of ‘Broke Up The Time’ and some key live shows in London and hometown Sunderland.

The Futureheads: The Beginning Of The Twist

Live tours have dominated the opening of 2008 in advance of the first single release ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’ (Nul Records) on March 10. Sitting happily on the A list at Radio One and MTV2, the response to the single has been immense. TV calls for the band have also included Sound, The Culture Show and The Album Chart Show. Exciting times, indeed.

Having won themselves a wealth of fans and supporters over their five years of making music together, The Futureheads have produced some of the most invigorating guitar driven punk-pop this country has had to offer in decades. Debut album ‘The Futureheads’ was released in 2004 and ‘News & Tributes’ followed in 2006.

‘This Is Not The World’, it could be said, is an amalgamation of the two – it has the excitement, urgency and vigour of ‘The Futureheads’ with the added control, sincerity and maturity employed on ‘News & Tributes’. It’s the album they always intended to make.

Recorded over three weeks in Spain last summer, legendary producer Youth (Primal Scream, The Verve) clipped the Mackem lads’ overflowing pot of songs into shape. Out of it came twelve short, sharp, shocks of pure Futurehead joy, not dismissing the killer hooks and choruses that adorn each and every one.  A change of scenery clearly served them well.

The album opens with first single ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’. It’s replete with rhythmic guitars, clever harmonies and urgent vocals spiced with their distinctive accents that we all know and love. ‘Walking Backwards’ maintains the pace and offers up one of the catchiest choruses on the album (and there’s some tough competition). ‘Think Tonight’’s driving force and ‘bah-bah-bah’s shakes things up and sounds like the perfect accompaniment to ‘The Barry Hyde Shuffle’.

Highly expected to be their pre-album single, ‘Radio Heart’ opens with clean drums and simple guitar riffs. Spot on minor-key harmonies adorn the chorus and the outro and give this catchy pop song an eerily dark undertone. Title track ‘This Is Not The World’ follows confidently. It’s a heady mix of a dominant bassline and glitchy guitar parts for the verse, leading into riding symbols, rasping snares and four-part harmonies on the chorus. Big.

And so it continues. ‘Sale Of The Century’, ‘Hard To Bear’ and ‘Work Is Never Done’ are all evidence of how this band have grown. The writing skills on show and the complexities amidst each track are testament to The Futureheads’ focus and drive to get this right. While Barry and Ross predominately share writing duties, ‘Work Is Never Done’ is the first on the album to feature lead vocals by Ross.

‘Broke Up The Time’ is classic Futureheads and could have quite happily sat next to ’Carnival Kids’ or ‘The City Is Here For You To Use’ on their debut. More off-beat ‘AH-AH, AH-AH’’S pepper ‘Everything’s Changing Today’ and ‘Sleet’ boasts one the best intros on the record. You can’t fail to jump about to this upbeat turn with its shifting time signatures and happy-go-lucky vibe.

Closing track, ‘See What You Want’ rounds things off perfectly. Like any live show they’ve ever played it’s bold, fun and fast and incidentally, the shortest song on the album – the only one under three minutes – I told you they’d changed.

This time around, The Futureheads are relaxed and confident and they want the world to know it – but most importantly, with this record – it shows.

This Is Not The World
tracklisting

The Beginning Of The Twist
Walking Backwards
Think Tonight
Radio Heart
This Not The World
Sale Of The Century
Hard To Bear
Work Is Never Done
Broke Up The Time
Everything’s Changing Today
Sleet
See What You Want

The Futureheads: Broke Up The Time

this video made up from clips filmed by the band in the studio

The Futureheads BIOGRAPHY

The Futureheads formed in 2000, in Sunderland. More specifically, in Barry’s garage really. The line-up of the band at that point was Jaff (Bass, Vocals), Barry Hyde (Guitar, Vocals), Ross Millard (Guitar, Vocals), and Peter Brewis, now of cerebral pop-masterpiece-makers Field Music.

After playing a million and one hometown shows, the Futuremen took the show on the road with a massive helping hand from Slampt Records’ Milky Wimpshake. A tour of Squats and Youth Centres in Central Europe came in summer 2001, due to which the band switched out drummers. In place of Peter Brewis ambled a young pretender, Mr David Hyde (Drums, Vocals). 

Several singles followed – the first, Nul Book Standard, can now be seen casually hanging out on eBay from time to time. A relationship with the lovely people at Fantastic Plastic briefly followed. ‘The Futureheads’ was released in summer 2004, on 679 Recordings, and then the band hit the road. Some highlights of 2005 include playing Glastonbury Festival on Baz’s birthday, Hounds Of Love going Top Ten, meeting Dennis Hopper on Jimmy Kimmel’s US TV Show, and getting that most infamous of Albatrosses, The Second Album under their belts.

‘News and Tributes’ was released in May 2006. It reached #11 in the album chart, and saw the band touring the world and continuing to win fans and supporters with their exhilarating live shows.

Fast forward to 2008, and The Futureheads are back, bolder and better than ever, exploding back onto the scene with their new album ‘This Is Not The World’. Embracing the punk-rock ethic like never before, Barry, Ross, Jaff and Dave are releasing their third album independently and taking control of their own destiny. It’s going to feel like the first time, all over again…

Annoyed and frustrated too many times by the bureaucratic nightmare that music had become, the band split with former label 679 in late 2006. A silently busy year followed which saw the band writing and recording, and teaming up with their management to launch their own label Nul Records, solely to release music by The Futureheads. Free of major label shackles, the band are taking back control and relishing being their own bosses.

‘This Is Not The World’ was recorded in 3 weeks in the summer with super-producer Youth at his studio ‘Space Mountain’ in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Andalusia. About as far away atmospherically as you can get from the bleak Scarborough farm in which they recorded ‘News And Tributes’, the band couldn’t help but be influenced by Youth’s enthusiasm, and describe the album as one of ‘defiance, optimism and joy.’

Keen to share the joy with fans, the band released 2 tracks as free downloads and played intimate shows in London and Sunderland at the end of 2007. They begin 2008 with not one but two tours across the UK and kick off the year with storming new single, ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’, released March 10th.