London-based quartet Scoundrels, who supported Alabama Shakes at this year’s South By Southwest festival, have signed to the world-famous British label Blue Horizon, after their rhythm and blues-tinged rock sound caught the ear of A&R legend Seymour Stein.
Scoundrels’ first release for Blue Horizon, under Stein’s inspired stewardship, is the ‘Sexy Weekend’ EP, out on July 2. It shows how they’ve perfected a brilliantly infectious sound at the intersection of greater London and the Southern states. To celebrate we have an exclusive premier of the video to their rambunctious new track ‘Bon Temps Rouler’ watch it here:
Vocalist/guitarist Ned Wyndham, bassist Alex ‘Billy’ Hill and drummer Josh Martens were at school and then at LCCM music college together, later joined in the line-up by guitarist George Elliott. They shared a passion for the swampy rock of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the driving R&B of the early Stones, but the American adventure added plenty more ingredients. This was all heightened by a trip to the US:
“It changed a lot when we went to Louisiana,” says Wyndham. “We all really like rock ‘n’ roll, and we’re inclined towards soul and blues, but going to Louisiana completely opened up that New Orleans thing, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, Fats Domino, and all these amazing melodies and grooves and beats they have.”
The band were greeted in Louisiana by Hart, a long-haired roadie with one tooth who drove a 22-foot Lincoln Continental called the Cream Puff, and was accompanied at every stage by what Scoundrels fondly describe as “a slightly bedraggled old stripper.”
There, they slept on a houseboat in the Louisiana swamps, lived on a diet of crayfish and gumbo, watched two or three bands every night, most of whom invited them up onstage, and gorged themselves on zydeco jazz, blues and modern rock. By day, they laid down songs that were growing and evolving with every minute, steeped in the Louisiana spirit.
But with Stein’s ringing endorsement, and with the further heavyweight backing of One Fifteen (the management company behind David Gilmour, Jools Holland and many others), it’s obvious that 2012 is going to be a year of complete Scoundrels. “We love the American grooves and soul,” says Wyndham, “but our sensibilty is distinctly English.”
Scoundrels’ Sexy Weekend EP is released July 2 on Blue Horizon, and their second album to follow in the autumn.
Live Dates:
June 2nd – Dot To Dot Festival – Bristol
June 3rd – Dot To Dot Festival – Nottingham
June 4th- Dot To Dot Festival – Manchester
June 6th – Water Rats – London
June 7th – The Joiners- Southampton
