posted Oct 30, 2008, 11:30 AM by Vu Nguyen
From Tell All Your Friends Cut Off Your
Hands To Release “You & I” On
Frenchkiss Records On January 20th 2009
Produced By Bernard Butler
(Suede, Duffy & Manic Street Preachers)
CMJ
2008 Favorites/ Happy As Can Be EP Out Now
 
Pitchfork Media At
CMJ 2008 : http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/146701-cmj-tuesday-marc-hogan
CMJ.com At CMJ 2008 : http://www.cmj.com/relay/?p=5604
Sentimentalist At CMJ 2008 : http://www.sentimentalistmag.com/2008/10/22/cmj-music-marathon-tuesday-102108/
Metro NY At CMJ 2008 : http://newyork.metromix.com/music/photogallery/cmj-2008-day-1/706289/content
“Power-pop ooh-lahs,
hip-rocking post-punk backbeats, and sleek guitar
fingerings.” Spin Magazine
“Swirling, elegiac punk.” Dazed &
Confused Magazine UK
"Honestly, what’s
not to love? " NME
“Swooooon” Vice
Magazine
| After
debuting on Speak n Spell Records in 2006 with the bristling Shaky Hands
EP, Cut Off Your Hands quickly set stages and
airwaves
on fire across Australia and beyond. And with steady attention to touring
and the production of melodic, musical gems their avid fan base and the
cavalcade of media hyperbole has only continued to grow.
With their nationwide billing on 2007’s Laneway Festival and
jaunts
to Los Angeles, SXSW and New York really getting the ball rolling, it was,
tellingly, the band’s first visit to London that would prove their
watershed moment.Having been bewitched by the band in Texas, the lovesick
indie-maven Steve Lamacq (hosting John Peel’s old show on BBC6)
wasted no time in pulling them into his Maida Vale studios for a live
performance when he knew they were in town. All of a sudden the boys from
the antipodes were a bright pin punched on the British musical
‘map’, and as a consequence, their remaining shows were rammed
full of hungry industry folk.
It was also while in London
that the group, through various channels and the snowballing momentum,
found themselves working with ex-Suede guitarist and Producer de jour,
Bernard Butler, for the first time. Their second EP, Blue on Blue, being
the fruit of their labours. While the recording’s lead tracks,
‘Still Fond’ and ‘Oh Girl’, settled quickly into
the higher echelon of the radio charts at home, things continued to move
for the band abroad. For the release of their debut English 7” - the
double a-side Still Fond/Closed Eyes – through vinyl-ists Fandango
was followed almost overnight by the inking of a deal with 679 Recordings
(home to The Streets, Mystery Jets and Death From Above 1979).
Through the heady rush of record deals, single releases and
the imminent debut LP however, the group’s dedication to their first
love, the live arena, never waned. Incessantly in the van,
Cut Off Your Hands forged solid friendships with fans
and bands alike through UK tours with the whip-smart Foals, the legendary
Edwyn Collins and Florida’s Black Kids - not to mention shows with
The Duke Spirit and Les Savy Fav. All this while also treading the
festival
circuit, playing eight shows in just three days at last year’s CMJ
festival in New York before winging their way to Iceland’s epic
Airwaves festival and a return to Australia to play Falls Festival and the
full Australasian tour of Big Day Out - alongside Bjork, Dizzee Rascal and
LCD Soundsystem.
Now based in the dynamic environs of
Hackney, London, the band have finished juggling life on the road with
life
in the studio, (for now) having put the final coat on their debut LP
‘You and I’, with Butler once again at the helm. With such an
amazing album waiting in the wings, Cut Off Your Hands couldn’t be
set in a better position to win over the World’s hearts.
Right. That’s about enough of the press spiel...let’s
hear what Nick Johnston - Cut Off Your Hands’
Iggy-like, whirling dervish of a front-man - has to say about Bernard,
recording and the record...
“For the album we all
felt Bernard was the best for our band. He just seems to understand us as
a
group more than most. He’s very hands-on with the pre-production,
with a clear vision for how each instrument has a part to play in bringing
the best out of a song.
For the first time
I’ve written songs with the studio in mind, as opposed to writing
for
our live show. Once again, this has been just treating each song in the
way
that best suits the song. Bernard’s really adamant in pushing to
treat each song on its merits. Some songs worked straight away, whilst
others came together slowly, only sounding amazing once we put all the
vocals and overdubs on.
There’s a whole lot more
instrumentation on the record this time as well. BB was really keen to
make
a record which had points of difference to separate us from the droves of
British guitar bands around right now. And we've taken a few more risks
than usual. Bernard has taken us (as players) out of our comfort zones,
deconstructing the way we think. But it's a good, healthy thing - risk
taking- because when it works out you progress. I feel that the new songs
are definitely an organic progression. In that the songs from the EP Blue
On Blue were completely melody based, but all fairly similar. They were
bouncy and energetic. Hopefully we've made a LP which listens in a far
more
dynamic sense than the two previous EP's.
Our pop
sensibility has come lately. (While writing the record) I was listening to
a lot of doo-wop - in particular Phil Spector produced groups like the
Ronnettes, and the Crystals - and I've been obsessed with how melodically
centred those old songs are. It's what makes them still relevant and
exciting to someone like me, a 23 year old, 50 years later. I also began
seriously taking an interest in 1950's artists such as Roy Orbison,
Ritchie
Valens and Elvis. I found that I was no longer that interested in weird
sounds, or noisy groups, all I wanted to hear and recreate were beautiful
vocal melodies that are calculated but appear so effortless.
We feel we've really matured as songwriters quite a bit since the
last release, and we think that maturity is demonstrated in the depth of
this record. I’m happy that Bernard has been so eager to take risks
with our music, and has aimed to make a record we'll still be listening to
in years to
come.” |
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http://www.myspace.com/cutoffyourhands
cutoffyourhandsblog.blogspot.com
www.frenchkissrecords.com |
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