Sarcastic ‘Salad’ are back!

They made a minor splash on Steve Lemacq’s debut year on the Evening Session in 1993 with art piece House in Kent. There was a hint of the Britpop in their music, but they were more in line with their pre-Britpop origins, with the snarling sarcastic and slow paced indie of The Auteurs. They were John the Baptist to Elastica. There was a bit of the shoegazer in them too. Later on in 1997 they released the awesome Terrible Day (which I don’t think I ever heard when it was released) which had the pace of a hedge-cutter, appropriate to the fizzy demands of the Britpop consumer. Now they’re back for a slight return. Their new single Being Human isn’t bad, its listenable. There’s still that old sarcasm in the lyrics. I guess I just like Salad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHDkpP9LUhE

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Buzzkill sees Ash sounding a bit like a grungey Beach Boys. You know, Weezer, that kind of stuff. Not a million miles away from Jack Names the Planets. The release of the track, given its focus on summer, is a bit out of sync with the seasons. You know, listening to it feels a bit like eating mince pies in June. The track features The Undertones’ Damien O’Neill and Mickey Bradley on backing vocals. Speaking about the track, Ash’s singer/guitarist Tim Wheeler says;

“The day I wrote Buzzkill, it took me a while to stop laughing cos it’s so fun, dumb and full of unnecessary swearing. We used to know a band called Buzzkill in Belfast in the 90s and I think their name has been in my mind for all that time wanting to get into a song. Having seen The Undertones playing a couple of times recently I was guiltily thinking how much the backing vocals I’d written for Buzzkill were mimicking their style. So I thought it would only be right to ask Damien and Mickey to sing on it and we were honoured when that they said yes, despite all the filthy cussing. It’s a fun song and will hopefully ignite a few mosh-pits for us this year.”

Buzzkill is taken from forthcoming album Islands – the band’s first since 2015’s Kablammo! to be released on the 18th May. The band will be going on tour soon, they’ve already confirmed an appearance at the Live At Leeds festival and the BBC Biggest Weekend festival.

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Embrace, another indie band from the 90s, have recently released a new single.

Its a beautiful track. Not dissimilar to Snow Patrol’s Set The Fire to the Third Bar.

EMBRACE recently played a short run of intimate shows, and have now announced a full UK tour for March and April this year. Full dates as follows:

MARCH

Wed 28 GLASGOW O2 Academy

Thu 29 NEWCASTLE Northumbria Institute

Fri 30 NOTTINGHAM Rock City

Sat 31 MANCHESTER O2 Ritz

APRIL

Sun 01 CARDIFF Tramshed

Mon 02 SOUTHAMPTON Engine Rooms

Wed 04 NORWICH Epic

Thu 05 BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute

Fri 06 LONDON O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

Sat 07 LEEDS O2 Academy