aaamusic | On 05, Jul 2011

HEIST OR HIT RECORDS
Skint & Demoralised release long awaited first album and second album through Heist Or Hit Records

Heist Or Hit Records are very proud to announce the newest artist joining our roster, Skint & Demoralised. Founder of Heist, Mick Scholefield, came across the band in the early days of the label, loved them but at that time they were signed to a major label. However we recently heard of the sad story that the band’s former major label never actually released the band’s first album, a fact that we felt showed what is perhaps wrong with parts of the music industry. Heist has always been eager to make sure that music is actually heard rather than locked in the vaults of a major label which perhaps lacks ambition. The current release is therefore not only just the band’s most recent album, This Sporting Life but also their first, never released, album Love, And Other Catastrophes as part of a 2CD bonus edition.

The two albums provide a stark contrast in their history and production. Their debut was recorded on a major label budget in New York and London over summer 2009, with personal chefs and luxury hotels to boot. The follow-up was recorded in their home studio in Sheffield over autumn and winter 2010, whenever Matt wasn’t working as a Christmas temp in HMV. Such is the nature of their story so far – in many ways you’d think that those albums were done the wrong way around!

Just 9 months after forming, S&D signed to Mercury Records in 2008 when Radio 1 plays from Steve Lamacq and Colin Murray helped free downloads of their demos soar towards the 10,000 mark. Armed with being listed at #3 in Lamacq’s Top 100 New Bands of 2007, they flew to New York to begin recording with legendary soul session band The Dap-Kings (who also played on Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back To Black’). After sessions in The Daptone Studios, Brooklyn, recording was completed in RAK Studios, London. As one half of S&D – co-writing songs with lyricist/front-man Matt Abbott – MiNI dOG was given the role of producer and the act retained full creative control on their record.

The sound fuses Abbott’s spoken word poetry with Northern Soul-inspired grooves and an abundance of catchy melodies and hooks. Lyrically, he tells tales of love and life as he saw it – the painstakingly honest diary of a lad in his late-teens, with his heart on his sleeve and tongue tucked firmly in his cheek.

Debut single ‘The Thrill of Thirty Seconds’ was released in November 2008 and all 500 copies of the limited edition 7” sold-out on pre-order. Colin Murray made the track his ‘Record of the Week’ on Radio 1 and the band were hotly-tipped heading into 2009. A headline tour of the UK was supported by second single ‘This Song Is Definitely Not About You’, before airplay success with summer smash ‘Red Lipstick’ made the band a huge hit on the major festival circuit.

Despite having a rapidly increasing fan-base, S&D’s overall performance was deemed unsatisfactory and their planned album release was pulled. The band announced that they’d split at the end of 2009, and Matt spent 2010 performing stand-up gigs – including two very successful shows at Latitude and Leeds Festival. The latter performance inspired them to start writing again, and in late 2010 they wrote and recorded second album ‘This Sporting Life’ in their Sheffield-based studio 6×7.

The new record sees Abbott singing throughout, and musically it has a much more mature feel than its predecessor. Lyrically, Abbott has made the transition from boy to man and debut double A side single ’43 Degrees / The Lonely Hearts of England’ sees the band return better than ever before.

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REVIEWS

“Ace potential” – Steve Lamacq, BBC 6 Music

“Wakefield’s most articulate (and can we say handsome?) street poet finds the romance beneath the realism……he’ll have you feeling better in no time” NME

“chatty, chirpy pop reminiscent of early the Streets, with nods to Squeeze, the Jam and Northern Soul.” “Abbott oozed easy charm on songs backed by clattering rock and shuffling beats” “his songs are certainly fun” Lisa Verrico, The Times

‘THIS SPORTING LIFE’ Track Listing:
1. Hogmanay Heroes
2. 43 Degrees
3. Maria, Full of Grace
4. All The Rest Is Propaganda
5. The Lonely Hearts of England
6. Voluntary Confinement
7. Maybe You Are After All?
8. Did It All Go To Plan?
9. Fireworks
10. Lowlife

‘LOVE, AND OTHER CATASTROPHES’ Track Listing
1. It’s Only Been A Week
2. Red Lipstick
3. One Way Traffic
4. Failing To See The Attraction
5. Withdrawl Symptoms
6. Let’s Get Lost
7. The Thrill Of Thirty Seconds
8 .You Probably Don’t Even Realise When
You Do The Things I Love The Most
9. Only Lust Ignores Violence Involving
Ambulances
10. This Song Is Definitely Not About You
11. Three More Days
12. A Few Quiet Drinks