Arriving through the post to the Gigseen office last week came a split EP from Philophobia Music, featuring two bands: Wakefield's Runaround Kids and We Are Losers from Dublin. Which gives us a handy opportunity to take a look here at both.
Runaround Kids' contributions on the EP pick up where April's now sold out 'T-Shirt' single You'd Feel The Same left off. Recorded during the same fruitful session at Greenmount Studios, Drinking History (preview below) and Lesser Loved make up the strongest release to date, and the band will surely be playing to huge crowds in the not too distant future, starting with a joint tour in Ireland with We Are Losers and also Beacons Festival this summer.
In 2011 Runaround Kids released their debut album Linked Arms playing at the Leeds festival (for the second time), Tramlines Festival, Live at Leeds, Long Division as well as several tours of England. The lead single from the album Can't Lose Lover was playlisted on Amazing Radio as well as picking up plays from the likes from the likes of Steve Lamacq (BBCR6), John Kennedy (XFM) amongst others.
We Are Losers were brought together by a shared love of weird pop music, cassette tape hiss and an all encompassing joy of being. They came to life in August of 2010 with a three-track EP that landed them both critical praise prior to any live performances and key supports, including a highly lauded show with Local Natives after only two previous gigs. Their music is rooted in pop - kissaway harmonies intertwine with handclaps and backbeats but always skewed away from being too straight-laced, forcing the listener to pay greater attention to find the melodic heart underneath the fuzz.
In 2011 they released their debut single Sunset Song / Cheerleader through Leeds label Dance to the Radio which picked up plays on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music, XFM and Amazing radio as well as also playing Live at Leeds and the Leeds Festival. They have also just recently played the Camden Crawl Dublin and it's clear from their tracks Talk and We Vampires (check it out below) that the Irish and the UK will soon have to share this band with those further afield.
The split EP is set for release on the 9th of July, and perhaps what makes it really special is that aside from the 4 tracks (2 each) mentioned above, there is also included a cover version from reach band, of the other band's song. Really nice touch. Tracklisting as follows:
- 1. Drinking History - Runaround Kids
- 2. Lesser Loved - Runaround Kids
- 3. The Narcissist (We Are Losers cover) - Runaround Kids
- 4. Talk - We Are Losers
- 5. We Vampires - We Are Losers
- 6. Can't Lose Lover (Runaround Kids cover) - We Are Losers
Both bands are just about to embark on a 'joint tour' - so you can catch them live at the following dates:
- 27th June - Twisted Pepper, Dublin
- 28th June - Bourkes, Limerick
- 29th June - Roisin Dubh, Galway
- Plus - 17th August - Beacon Festival (Runaround Kids)