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| So it's Christmas Eve and I hope most of you are relaxing right about now, putting your feet up to watch some Christmas telly, with a mulled wine and three thousands more calories than you're supposed to have on your plate. If you're not then I'm guessing you're panic buying for tomorrow? Or you're at work? Or maybe you don't celebrate Christmas. Anyway, for this week's New Band Up North I'm returning to the seven hills of Sheffield. | So it's Christmas Eve and I hope most of you are relaxing right about now, putting your feet up to watch some Christmas telly, with a mulled wine and three thousands more calories than you're supposed to have on your plate. If you're not then I'm guessing you're panic buying for tomorrow? Or you're at work? Or maybe you don't celebrate Christmas. Anyway, for this week's New Band Up North I'm returning to the seven hills of Sheffield. |
| Alvarez Kings are a four-piece progressive indie pop band from the surrounding areas of the city. They've just completed a massive tour of Canada and America with Hey Ocean and released their own rendition of 'Walking In The Air' from The Snowman just in time for Christmas. You think it can't be done? Well they've pulled it off. It's amazing. Watch their video below. Simon Thompson, Paul Thompson, Sean Parkin and Richard Walker have all been playing and writing music since their early school days. But only started touring together in their current set up at the start of 2012. Brothers Simon and Paul grew up making music together and started performing with their drummer Richard four years ago. Sean came along a lot later, in February, joining them on tour in Europe. Paul says: | Alvarez Kings are a four-piece progressive indie pop band from the surrounding areas of the city. They've just completed a massive tour of Canada and America with Hey Ocean and released their own rendition of 'Walking In The Air' from The Snowman just in time for Christmas. You think it can't be done? Well they've pulled it off. It's amazing. Watch their video below. Simon Thompson, Paul Thompson, Sean Parkin and Richard Walker have all been playing and writing music since their early school days. But only started touring together in their current set up at the start of 2012. Brothers Simon and Paul grew up making music together and started performing with their drummer Richard four years ago. Sean came along a lot later, in February, joining them on tour in Europe. Paul says: |
| We just had to convince him to move back home from London, which wasn't easy. | We just had to convince him to move back home from London, which wasn't easy. |
But thankfully he did and the band has enjoyed some remarkable adventures since. | But thankfully he did and the band has enjoyed some remarkable adventures since. |
| Everything has its ups and downs but Alvarez Kings are riding on a wave of ups right now. They've played some incredible festivals including South By South West in Austin, Texas (SXSW), Isle of Wight here in the UK and CMJ in New York. So you can see the lads from little old South Yorkshire get about a bit. The band are so happy they've had such a busy year: | Everything has its ups and downs but Alvarez Kings are riding on a wave of ups right now. They've played some incredible festivals including South By South West in Austin, Texas (SXSW), Isle of Wight here in the UK and CMJ in New York. So you can see the lads from little old South Yorkshire get about a bit. The band are so happy they've had such a busy year: |
| These are the things that keep us going and I guess they're our rewards for all the hard work we've put in over the years. | These are the things that keep us going and I guess they're our rewards for all the hard work we've put in over the years. |
| After playing at CMJ Festival in New York City Alvarez Kings jumped at the chance to do a three week tour of Canada with Hey Ocean. Before that excitement had sunk in more shows were added in the US and a 4 week trip was ahead of them. Paul says: | After playing at CMJ Festival in New York City Alvarez Kings jumped at the chance to do a three week tour of Canada with Hey Ocean. Before that excitement had sunk in more shows were added in the US and a 4 week trip was ahead of them. Paul says: |
| Canada is where we had the most fun but at the same time it was hard work. We covered four provinces East to West coast starting from Toronto and finishing in Vancouver, covering 8000 miles. But the drives were well worth it. | Canada is where we had the most fun but at the same time it was hard work. We covered four provinces East to West coast starting from Toronto and finishing in Vancouver, covering 8000 miles. But the drives were well worth it. |
| The band reckon around ninety five per cent of the shows were sold out because "Hey Ocean are really popular in Canada". Luckily the crowds were very welcoming to Alvarez Kings too, Paul thinks "the English accents helped a lot." But they managed to sell all their CDs, proving people really loved their sound as well as their English charm. The guys were shocked: | The band reckon around ninety five per cent of the shows were sold out because "Hey Ocean are really popular in Canada". Luckily the crowds were very welcoming to Alvarez Kings too, Paul thinks "the English accents helped a lot." But they managed to sell all their CDs, proving people really loved their sound as well as their English charm. The guys were shocked: |
| We thought we'd taken far too much. We can't wait to go back with new songs and more CD's. Two suitcases this time maybe. | We thought we'd taken far too much. We can't wait to go back with new songs and more CD's. Two suitcases this time maybe. |
| Away from the music Alvarez Kings got to soak up Canada's beautiful scenery. Hey Ocean were | Away from the music Alvarez Kings got to soak up Canada's beautiful scenery. Hey Ocean were |
| tour guides to us and showed us some amazing places. We visited hot springs, glaciers and went skinny dipping in Lakes when the temperatures got as low as minus 23 one morning! | tour guides to us and showed us some amazing places. We visited hot springs, glaciers and went skinny dipping in Lakes when the temperatures got as low as minus 23 one morning! |
| Wow. I could not do that. I'd happily look at the stunning landscapes but there's no way I could skinny dip in icy water, unless someone paid me. | Wow. I could not do that. I'd happily look at the stunning landscapes but there's no way I could skinny dip in icy water, unless someone paid me. |
| Getting up in front of hundreds of people who had never heard their music before was surely a very scary prospect? But the band says that was the highlight of their time in Canada. They enjoyed the challenge of winning the crowds over: | Getting up in front of hundreds of people who had never heard their music before was surely a very scary prospect? But the band says that was the highlight of their time in Canada. They enjoyed the challenge of winning the crowds over: |
| It's a really great feeling to know you've been to a different continent, showcased your music that you work so hard at for people to be so receptive. The main thing was the vibe at shows. They would just go nuts each night. It really helped us up our stage performance. | It's a really great feeling to know you've been to a different continent, showcased your music that you work so hard at for people to be so receptive. The main thing was the vibe at shows. They would just go nuts each night. It really helped us up our stage performance. |
| It's obvious that the band enjoy a challenge after bravely recording their version of 'Walking In The Air' from The Snowman. Thankfully this hasn't destroyed a classic Christmas soundtrack. But surely they were worried about touching such a well-known song? "For us The Snowman represents the quintessential Christmas film and is part of our earlier memories of the yuletide season" Paul cheerfully admits. They knew it was a big thing to pull off but that's what spurred them to do it. I just remembered 'The Snowman and The Snowdog' is on tonight. Not sure whether I think that'll work. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong. | It's obvious that the band enjoy a challenge after bravely recording their version of 'Walking In The Air' from The Snowman. Thankfully this hasn't destroyed a classic Christmas soundtrack. But surely they were worried about touching such a well-known song? "For us The Snowman represents the quintessential Christmas film and is part of our earlier memories of the yuletide season" Paul cheerfully admits. They knew it was a big thing to pull off but that's what spurred them to do it. I just remembered 'The Snowman and The Snowdog' is on tonight. Not sure whether I think that'll work. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong. |
| These four lads from up North have had quite an adventurous year and they're planning to release another EP early on in 2013, along with their new single 'Postcards From Berlin' (which they performed exclusively on my community radio show 'Mixtape'). They're hoping to have an album out by summertime and I know it will be outstanding. | These four lads from up North have had quite an adventurous year and they're planning to release another EP early on in 2013, along with their new single 'Postcards From Berlin' (which they performed exclusively on my community radio show 'Mixtape'). They're hoping to have an album out by summertime and I know it will be outstanding. |
| Emily Brinnand is a freelance journalist, radio presenter and producer. You can listen to her show Mixtape every Tuesday evening at 6pm on Sheffield Live! 93.2fm or online at www.sheffieldlive.org. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyBrinnand If you're in a northern band Emily wants to hear from you so please Tweet her links to your music. | Emily Brinnand is a freelance journalist, radio presenter and producer. You can listen to her show Mixtape every Tuesday evening at 6pm on Sheffield Live! 93.2fm or online at www.sheffieldlive.org. Follow her on Twitter @EmilyBrinnand If you're in a northern band Emily wants to hear from you so please Tweet her links to your music. |
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