Today is a busy day for Manchester noise pop types Mazes! They release their fizzing new single ‘Summer Hits’ -released 17th June. Watch the video at Loud & Quiet. Then they jet off to Washington DC to join the terrific White Denim on their US tour. They’ve just announced their first UK headline tour for October (see dates below).
The generous lads are also giving stuff away! As if all that wasn’t enough, you can download or stream the previously unheard non-album track ‘Brunswick Stack’ (demo) via Soundcloud here.
Mazes – Brunswick Stack (demo) by FatCat Records
October headline shows, with support from Milk Maid.
03-OCT Mon LEEDS Nation Of Shopkeepers
04-OCT Tue MANCHESTER The Kings Arms
05-OCT Wed EDINBURGH Sneaky Petes
06-OCT Thu GLASGOW Captains Rest
07-OCT Fri NEWCASTLE Dog & Parrot
08-OCT Sat LANCASTER Library
09-OCT Sun NOTTINGHAM Spanky Van Dykes
11-OCT Tue OXFORD Jericho
12-OCT Wed BIRMINGHAM The Hare & Hounds
13-OCT Thu LONDON Lexington
14-OCT Fri BRIGHTON The Hope
Recorded last November on an old lightship moored on the Thames opposite the Millennium Dome, Mazes debut ‘A Thousand Heys’ (FatCat, 11th April) captures the excitement and fizzing energy of a band still in day-jobs with everything in front of them – one of the freshest, most life-affirming collections any of us are going to hear this year.
Mazes appreciation of the D.I.Y ethos and sense of community amongst their peers – Pens, Cold Pumas, Male Bonding, Spectrals – stems from the attitude many of the acts they admire embraced. Jack runs Suffering Jukebox whilst Conan, also a member of Graffiti Island, is CEO of Italian Beach Babes, labels that are very much a part of what makes the UK scene so vibrant right now. ‘A Thousand Heys’ sees Mazes dart in and out of their respective record collections with the rapacious enthusiasm of wide-eyed kids in the proverbial sweet shop. Embellished with Pavement’s wayward clatter, Buzzcocks’ intensity, and wryly nihilistic lyrics, they can sound like a British Invasion group: Witness the syncopated McCartney bassline that kicks in on ‘Surf & Turf’, and it’s cheeky opener ‘I get off trains and wave, like Beatles at JFK’.
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