Alcopop! new signing…. GLOW KIT from Denmark

OH YO Denmark…. We’re a coming for you. See, in our romps around the UK to check out some of the greatest bands this fine nation is producing, we just occasionally take a peak abroad – and check out some wonder sounds from the continent.

And so, after spending much of the week at SXSW hanging with some awesome folk from the Danish music scene, we’ve decided to take the plunge and hook up with the good chaps at Kanel Records to bring you Glow Kit -”Based in Denmark and featuring members of Cola Freaks, Bliglad and Snow Kite, these guys are beyond rad, blasting thru a mix of Power Pop and Garage Punk with a touch of psych guitars that will have the more surf-keen of you dancing from pillar to post.

They’ll be popping over for a few shows in May (most notably at our TBA Great Escape/Alternative Great Ecape –not sure which yet- showcase) and are well worthy of your time chaps. The new album will be coming in May time on heart-achingly cool glo-in-the-dark sleeve (well why not right) and I think you might just get real excited by these chaps.

Check out this hit and see what you think, yo…. It’s just so WAVVEs meets Futureheads meets FUCKING AWESOME! Hope you like sweet poppers.

ALCOPOP AND BSM take over TRUCK FESTIVAL

new owners, new festival – Oxford’s finest – and we’re in the barn! You coming?

It’s DOUBLE RELEASE Monday

So it’s a double release day for Alcopop! One sad Monday, but two awesome releases from some seriously awesome roster folk. First up we’ve got The Social Club – melody infused punk power from those ex Captain Everything/ Fireapple Red champs – and, fresh from their days in Reuben and Hundred Reasons (and an Irish tour with Fighting With Wire – Freeze the Atlantic! So, in no particular order (we were going to order in handsomeness, but we can’t do that can we..?)

Another few months on and another few months stronger, everyone’s favourite ex-Captain Everythingers, Fireapple Reddians and Wartgore Hellsnickers are back after tours with The Attika State and Saves the Day! This time with even bigger hits, and full page features in Rock Sound and Kerrang… Bastions of taste right? Well you better buy this then. Yeah i’ve written the same on the shop page, but those words were carefully crafted. Sounding somewhere between aforementioned STD and 90s heros of mine Snug, fuck expnsive holidays if you want a perfect summer. This IS the tonic, see….

And if THAT Hundred Reasons text made you moist – well this is gonna make you WET!  A triumphant return to form from Freeze the Atlantic, the epic rock smashers who have taken 1 part Reuben, 1 part Hundred Reasons and 3 parts pure balls out rock and roll… All mixed together to create something massive.. We’re all awaiting news on the album, but this will satiate for now. Proper awesome….

Just hit the shop tab….

New Social Club EP (For Dancing) up for pre-order

The last time an Alcopop! band nailed a full pager in Rocksound and Kerrang in the same week was back in those heddy days of 2009 with This City (though Jumping Ships did come super close) – so how we cheered as the respective rags dropped this week. Bang. Look at the lads in Rock Sound we mouthed as high fives slapped all around, and lo – there they are dressed as clowns in Kerrang. Lew is reaching for a tiny trumpet we tooted!

We’re still not entirely sure why… But with this magnificent news, we thought it was ride old time to announce the second in a strong trio of EPs dropped by The Social Club… The first was For Drinking, this one is For Dancing! Out on March 5^th, and  this bad boy is all available for pre-order right away…  What’s more, 10 pre-orderers (picked at random) will win a personal dancing video from (the pictured) Paul Terris (aka Pauly von Keys – I just made that up)… Truly a money can’t buy experience.

So here’s that lovely Kerrang piece. And a bit of the new EP (for free download) just to whet your appetite…. Ladies and gentlemen, Somehwere Between the Rut and the Groove!

NB – as ever with PoP! you only pay postage once per order however much you buy, so if you’ve already preorderd GFT or FTA (which haven’t been despatched yet as they’re out in March) please set postage to MP3 so you don’t have to pay twice.

Alcopopular 5 NEEDS YOU!

Oh dear Poppers – I’m always asking things of you, but this one should be pretty fun. Basically we’re putting together a really rather splendid concept for our new compilation ‘Alcopopular 5′ (provisionally entitled The HitHikers Guide to the Galaxy) but we need some help from people who live in the following places (or vaguely nearby)… Can you help?

Sowerby Bridge,
Bournemouth,
Ascot,
Dublin,
Eastbourne,
Addlestone,
Lisburn,
Lewisham,
Brighton,
Birmingham

Basically, we’ve got songs from all these places on the compilation, but we want some form of creation from someone who has a connection there (live, go out, spent a big proportion of your life nearby) to be on the compilation and add even more depth to the sense and story of each location. (whether it be a photo, podcast, video, whatever). It’s all a bit vague, but I promise you it will be AWESOME when its all finished and out in May time – so if you could help we’d really appreciate it.

Just drop us a line at info@ilovealcopop.co.uk and lets have a chat.

We’re getting excited…

New Gunning for Tamar EP – AND IT’S A WRISTWATCH

Wow – so this has all come round rather quickly, but it feels like a good time to announce. Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you Gunning for Tamar’s first ever Alcopop! Release… The Time Trophies EP! Yes it’s packed with 5 fantastic songs, 2 of which are remixes by the epic maybeshewill and Jr JoFo, but what’s more – it’s truly one for the fans of alternative formats… Cos this baby comes on a gorgeous looking, tangerine, silver faced wristwatch… I’m sure you will have heard this by now, but to experience a bit of the tumultuous, rock drive, tender melody meets smash anthems of Tamar – try Chocolate Hooves below the pic…

Keeping real good time (I’ve been wearing one since Christmas), each watch comes with a QR/download code on the back of the timepiece to download the full EP (320kpbs), and in honour of the title track can be worn as your very own ‘Time Trophy’. Or you can buy it in a +CD format for an extra £1 (no fancy packaging on the CD though), or with a gig ticket to GFT’s launch show in Oxford with Jumping Ships on March 24^th for a tenner. Strictly limited, we only have 300 of these bad boys up for sale, for the reasonably reasonable price of £7…. Pah, enough talking from me… You probably just want to see the things right…? Done! Ohhhhh yes!

Oh, and ought to say – if you’re one of the chaps who have already bought the Freeze the Atlantic CDs this week and fancy this, please don’t pay postage again. Just set P&P to an MP3 and we’ll send them out together

Gunning for Tamar tour with Jumping Ships in March!

Exactly what it says on the tin. Two of our lovely lots of champs are out on tour together. And while Gunning for Tamar have been touted as one of the bands set to slay 2012 by Rocksound who brandished there new track ‘a phenomenal statement of intent from a very promising band’… Jumping Ships were featured across the board at the tail end of last year, Katie at Kerrang calling them ‘An addictive blend of danceable, jangly rock songs topped with British punk attitude’, whilst Rocksound suggested ‘Standard Bearer is a launching platform for these guys to do some serious commercial damage’….

Ahhhh no more talk, lets just you and me decide which of these shows we’re gonna go to – and rock the f**k out! In?

Rocksound this month was a blast then…!

One of our favourite print mags, Rocksound is always a very strong read. This month no different, as no less than 7 good PoP segments occurred. Oh yes we cried as The Social Club EP got 8/10, oh how we danced to find aforementioned TSC and new signings Gunning for Tamar on the covermount CD and wow we shouted as 3 of our bands (GFT, TSC and one as yet unrevealed new signing) were included in the ‘new bands to slay 2012′ section.

They’re right of course. Alcopop is poised to give 2012 a damn good slaying!

But perhaps the funnest bit of all was this crazy cool quarter page ad that we placed, featuring magnificent faces from across the world, sourced from this very blog, who genuinely buy our records (along with yours truly, Alcokitten and a few other strong faces from the pop roster). For those who got involved thanks so much – I mean… It’s all very well advertising the label, but why do it with a standard ad when we can fit so many strong faces on the hallowed pages of Rocksound instead.

Fuckin’ indie since 2006 – with quite clearly the best looking audience too. Tasty!

Happy Christmas you beautiful souls…

Ah man. The Christmas break. And not soon enough. It’s been a quite frankly brutal last couple of months – but incredible all the same = and amongst amazing releases from Johnny Foreigner, Katie Malco, My First Tooth and The Social Club, a number of key shows, more mail orders that we’ve ever dreamed of and relentless fesive partying (it’s a hard life)… We’ve had a great time. And I think it’s fair to say that Alcopop! is in the best shape it’s ever been…

I won’t go into it in a big way. After all this is Christmas and you should probably be dipping into some serious litres of Bucks Fizz rather than reading this, but it’s all looking grand, 2012 is liable to be perhaps the best year yet(!) and it’s all down to you guys and the support you give us, so thanks SO much.

As a little thank you we’re not only running an ad in Januarys RockSound that features a good number of your handsome faces, but we’ll also be running a few little bits and bobs in early January to say thanks. Kinda wanted to do an advent calendar but everyone was working on those, so we thought we go for something to combat the Christmas blues. So look out for HAPPY NEW YEAH!!! coming in January…

In the meantime, as we say – thanks so much for sticking by Alcopop! Without you we’re nothing…  Have an amazing Christmas, and just in case you missed it – here’s our free download compilation we released via the Banquet Advent Calendar to have a listen to what’s coming up in 2012…

Much love – and moreover.. Have an AMAZING Christmas

Lv Jack PoP, Mean Kev and Alcokitten!

ALCOPOP! Sign Gunning For Tamar

“There are some pretty famous bands from Oxford, right? This quartet look set to join that list of alumni”- Rock Sound 

Although the winds are cold and everyone is slapping on the scarves for Christmas, Alcopop! have been busy in the transfer window, and are pleased to announce the signing of Oxford heart-throbs Gunning For Tamar – along with a fresh new track ‘Chocolate Hooves’ for download pretty chaps!

GFT (Joe Wallis (lead vox/guitar), Dan Pollard (guitar/keyboards/vox), D’Arcy King (drums) and Ben Green (bass) come fresh from a stint with exceptional brothers in arms ‘Walnut Tree Records’, with sold out EP in tow – and a host of folk starting to get a little frothy around the tonsils about this lot.

Already confirmed as ones to watch in Rocksound 2012, and packed with fresh new EP, UK tour with Jumping Ships and European tours in the planning for 2012, it’s all been strong sailing thus far. With recent hits playlisted on Scuzz TV and NME TV, as well as being added to NME.com, they’ve been featured on XFM & BBC 6 Music, Canadian & New Zealand radio and have performed a BBC Introducing session. The band previously picked up the Breakthrough Track Of The Week through NME for “The Organs…”, their first single.

Two full summer tours & a successful first tour away from home soil in Germany, as well as supporting bands such as Tellison, Maybeshewill, Ungdomskulen & Sound of Guns signals a busy, great year already for this young band. They also played a packed out BBC Introducing night in the Oxford Academy back in May & a host of festivals including Truck Festival, Ley Lines Festival & Guilfest last year.

Let’s go (once more) Oxford! For any more info, do get in touch!