Vanity: IT'S THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, sis! I'm so, so happy for you, you deserve all the happiness and joy in the world. YESSS!! *dances around like a mad woman*

Amy-Jayne: congratulations girl, your a yummy mummy as they say :D

Smash Up Release Album News

Dan Servente confirmed on Sunday evening that the band are nearing the end of the recording process of their 6th studio album, with recording expecting to be finished as early as this week. The Welsh quintet went into the studio in late November 2013 with "no intention to rush" the process, two months later they come out with an album which they feel is their best work in their decade as a band.

The album, due for release later this year will be the first recorded music the band will produce without the late Luke Jell, who passed away in 2011 and will also be the first album to feature new guitarist Chris Davies, but Servente has urged fans not to be so focused on the new members and to enjoy the music.

"I think that when something like this happens, people are far too quick to write off the new members because they're so used to hearing & seeing the former members of the band. I'm asking fans to back the new guys, we're running a tight ship here and even though we can't take away the tragic fact that Luke is no longer with us that doesn't mean you have to compare them as soon as the album starts, the same also goes for Chris, who's been with the band for so long behind the scenes, it's great to see him in line-up, Ben is happy with his life working with BDE in LA now."

The real information is that the album will be called "Crowns" and that the title track is expected to be the lead single from the album however confirmation of this will come at a later date. The tracklist (below) also shows that one of raps rising stars in the form of Parish will feature on one track of the album, suggesting that a lot of experimenting with genres has happened during the process of the album, something that bassist Ollie Williams told press he would relish doing in an interview in early 2010.

Tracklist:

1)Blood Diamond
2)The Wolf
3)Puzzle (feat. Parish)
4)Dirty Dancing Devils
5)Crowns
6)One for the Road
7)Fools Gold
8)Citizen
9)They Say There's Nothing Like Persistence
10)Headlights

Servente also said that the band would be playing "one or two" new songs from the album either in their first live show since the bands re-formation on Feb 1st or on their UK tour in March, but that this would be the last significant album news on the bands release until the release date is announced in the "near future."

With the band previously hinting that a spring/summer release is on the cards, the rumoured release date of May is still possible. The Smash Up frontman has said on his twitter account on Sunday evening that the band did not want to "sit on this album" for too long, suggesting that once mixing has been completed, we will quickly be able to get our hands on the album.

So as the Crowns era has now officially begun are you looking forward to the return of one of the 00's biggest hardcore bands Would you rather they had let the band rest in peace, or are you just going to wait for the new music to be released before you make a decision on the return of Smash Up?

Edited by user 22 January 2014 01:06:52(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

erich:i dont know much in the way of being displeased with a label,i guess i lucked out that way. but i will offer you a heart rending seranade of "should i stay or should i go".

karoliena: performed with ukulele and jug

Dan: We had a huge legal battle with a label in 2008 which we won, they tried to make us release three albums in a year and we were having none of it, also tried to get a hired songwriter involved with our album to make us "more marketable" despite making the best part of a million from us in the previous 12 months, if you're not happy with who you're working for I'd explore your options.

Dan: Just a bit haha and it's not a problem, hope it works out for you!

Remember around six months ago when AllMusic interviewed this up-and-coming all-female band, describing them as a "truly inspired pop act with tons of potential?" If not, I'm sure nobody would blame you for that. After that small interview, the girls seemed to completely disappear, making no effort to stay in any sort of limelight or keep their names on anybody's lips. It was almost as if their career had ended before it even began.

But the band has apparently decided that six months later, the iron is still hot and they're going to stike at it now, and release their first song - 'Breathing' - for free download on their website. The song is more of the indie pop/new wave variety, which wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but we actually don't know what we were expecting from them anyway, so I guess we'll take it. The four girls each play a significant role in the song, making it difficult to tell which singer could be considered the "leader" of the group and which ones are just there for back-up. Each one of the girls also seems to have a very distinct sound to their voice, which does make it easy for listeners to tell which one is singing, but also extremely easy for each listener to pick out which girl is their favorite: Are you into more the of the low, sultry sounds of Tessa? Or maybe the smooth, girlish voice of Aubrey? The dramatic soprano range of Vanessa? Or Eva, with a voice seeming perfect for musical theatre - almost out of place with the rest of the group, who have voices that are so trained for the pop variety. No matter which girl you like the most, it looks like all of them are going to be around for the long-run.

The song they decide to release as their first steps into the music world is a song about a distant, failing relationship, which doesn't especially seem all that new for an act that's suppose to be so inspiring and groundbreaking, but whatever. I suppose where you truly start to see their musical accomplishments shine isn't through their writing - although the lyrics aren't bad - but through their ability to harmonize and break up the lines perfectly to match what each girl is able to bring to the table, vocal wise. For four girls who claim that they've never had any musical training outside of a few years in high school choir, they seem to have songwriting and music theory down pretty well.

The song - and the band, for as much shit as I've given them for waiting this long after that initial interview to release anything - is pretty great. They managed to make their first release a memorable song with decent lyrics and wonderful instrumentals, switching between a simple piano ballad heartwrencher to a first-class new wave classic sound. And while I certainly don't think we can count them among the ranks of girl groups like GirlSpice, they definitely have their own girl group sound, unrelated to any pop variety that we've heard in a while.

I'll leave you with what Tessa Laity posted this morning right after 'Breathing' started steaming on Cherry Street's website:

Quote:

"We know people have been waiting to hear more about Cherry Street ever since AllMusic did that interview with us. We've kind of been pissing away our time lately because we wanted to make our first song fucking perfect. It's really difficult to know what the public wants to hear from you when you're not even completely sure what you have to offer them. The lyrics went through six different rewrites, and we didn't completely agree on how it sounded until two hours before recording it. If there had actually been a time limit on when we needed to release 'Breathing,' we would have still gotten done at the final hour. I hope what we lack in time management skills, we make up for in musical talent."

Vanessa: Yeah, yeah, yeah! I remember you! Hope you're, you know, doing well and all of those other expected pleasantries. :) thanks for listening.

Katie: Don't let anyone ever tell you you've taken too long. Perfection doesn't come without spending good time working for it. I'm sure your song will be awesome if you've worked so hard :)

Eva: Thank you, Katie! You're kind of the poster child of making your fans wait, aren't you? ;) thank you.