Some of the artists we’re featuring to round off the year are massive: they’re on the list because they’ve played major festivals, released great albums that have shifted bucket loads, had sell out tours, maybe even played a stadium or two. Others are still making a name for themselves, and have caught our eye, and more importantly ear from an early stage. One such band are SixNationState.
This lot began the year with a trip to SxSW in Texas, and recently played at In The City in Manchester. In between these two key showcase gigs came an album release, plenty of touring and a festival date or two including
Guilfest. That weekend also saw them play Lama Tree, and they told us on arrival in Guildford that their lighting tech had got properly into the spirit of life on the road, puking on the rest of them while in transit, nice!
R13 reviewer Andy Latham explains why it’s not just mastering the art of a decent tune that has meant we’ve enjoyed keeping an eye on SixNationState this year.
“The reason SixNationState work is because they present a whole package rather than just relying on the music. The stage show is excellent and amusing, as is the interaction with the crowd and it all backs up the songs perfectly. The tunes themselves tend to be upbeat, fairly fast indie with a good time vibe.
The guitars sound big, the harmonies polished and the songs are littered with hooks and surprises.”
Reflecting on 2007, front man Gerry lists two key gigs as worth singling out:
“Highlights for this year have to be going to SXSW and playing out there. Texas was amazing and so were all the bands I saw out there. Free booze and twenty four hour parties... and the gig was pretty darn good too! Best gig though has to be our Southampton Album Launch. Never have I seen more sweat dripping from everybody at the end of a show!”
As the album arrived, we caught up with the full band while they were on the road, and got them to talk us through it track by track. Read their thoughts
here and the R13 verdict
here.
Gerry: “Releasing our album is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. Been something I've dreamed of since I was 11 so was a real sense of
Accomplishment.”
As any band will tell you, in the early days, for every rammed, sweat drenched gig in one part of the country, you go somewhere else and the reputation that precedes you, seems to have stopped at the motorway services and been left behind.
“Lows … probably some of the early shows up north playing to a bare room, but its something every band has to do so it's all good.”
As
this review shows, although the numbers weren’t great up north at the start of the year, SixNationState certainly left a mark.
Their
autumn tour saw them play to a much bigger venue, this time we saw them in Crewe, however the numbers still weren’t anything to get excited about.
In The City however saw them pull one of the biggest crowds of the Sunday at Manchester’s Dry Bar, so for once our man Latham had some company!
So things are moving in the world of SixNationState, and as Gerry says, 2008 is already shaping up nicely:
“Plans for next year... tour... finish writing the second record... festivals... tour... record the second album."
You can see the rest of the featured artists
here.