Brand Spanking New: Pulled Apart by Matt Emery EP

Matt Emery, from the 'Surrey Mountains', is coming out from behind the drums for his new EP

Matt Emery is the drumming contingent of cheeky, Surrey-based band Stagecoach. The band’s success and notoriety has been on a sharp increase of late, having performed for Huw Stephen’s BBC Introducing show, and are set to storm the festival circuit in the summer. In addition to all this, Matt has found the time to work on some solo material, and this free EP is a little sneak peek.

As you may guess from the title, the EP consists of  selection of covers of hardcore giants Pulled Apart by Horses. This includes most of the notable hits, Yeah Buddy, Back To The Fuck Yeah, I Punched A Lion In The Throat and High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive. Matt has been a fan and friend of the band for a long time, and witnessed their journey to success, but the EP is not just a product of hero-worship; Matt has put his own spin on every track.

Matt in Elysian Fields, playing to many ears (...of corn)

Whilst keeping a flavour of the original version, Matt’s more delicate vocals with varied musical accompaniments makes for a softer, but no less moving, sound. I personally think the a cappella version of Yeah Buddy is a really brave, and bloody brilliant idea!

Included with the MP3 downloads is a letter from Matt, explaining why he chose to undertake this somewhat intimidating task. He describes how he was blown away the first time he encountered Pulled Apart, and also that their music is so far removed from his own that it seemed like the perfect choice for him to cover.

Matt says,

I just wanted to take their songs and put a whole different spin on it, hopefully to not just amuse the pulled apart fans but maybe present their songs to some people who aren’t fans of rockier/heavier music.

This follows an earlier project when Stagecoach went on tour with Johnny Foreigner, making a split EP with covers of each other’s songs, which had some fantastic outcomes. Matt and band mate, Luke, told me the thinking behind it when I interviewed them in an earlier blog post.

Matt’s awesome EP is free to download from today, so, please, go ahead!

Live Music: Cut Ribbons at Y Tair Pluen, 19/2/11

 

Cut Ribbons playing at Y Tair Pluen, Cardiff

Of all the incredible music venues Cardiff has to offer, the Y Tair Pluen pub, next to the Owain Glyndwr would probably not be the first on my list to visit. I didn’t even know it staged bands, to be honest. However, after first encountering their name on the list of many promising bands at last year’s Swn Festival, I noticed Cut Ribbons name, and had also been asked to interview them for The Whiteboard Project.

 

Luckily I was right. Hailing from Llanelli, Cut Ribbons have been together since 2009. Members include Aled Rees, Anna Griffiths, Chris James, Shane Lee, and Caio Griffiths. Despite being talent spotted by the musical genius of Huw Stephens and John Rostron who organise Swn Fest, the band are still yet to be signed and are still working on getting the band off the ground doing mostly local gigs, such as the one I found them at.

This is difficult to understand for two reasons, 1. You would be hard pushed to find a friendlier, more deserving group of people when all the arrogant try-hards seem to get recording deals with no problem…Not mentioning any names, Razorlight. 2. When they start playing, it is all too easy to imagine hearing their songs in big, packed venues, or blasting out of your earphones. Their music is amazing.

The venue, a usually sleepy host to old Welsh men drinking Brains, was suddenly filled with a promising large number of people, and an all-encompassing noise that draws you in in such a way that only a few bands are capable of doing. The juxtaposition between heavy instrumental reverberations and the delicate harmony of Aled and Anna’s voices is something quite special, leaving you unsure of whether to mosh or sigh.

Although their repertoire would not manage to fill an album yet, my particular track favourites would have to be When Will The Water and Knock Me Down, the latter of which was included as one of Big Scary Monsters‘ 2010 Collection.

They are a band worth looking out for – a message I would stress to potential fans and record labels.