In today’s climate, bands and artists blowing up overnight and storming the charts are dead. It is a brutal process, from getting local gigs to performing on the main stages of festivals. As such, there is a swelling of talent on the underground, poised to break through.
*banner image courtesy of Spirit of Spike Island.
Click image for tour tickets.
So, this week, we are picking five of our favourite artists on the cusp of said breakthrough. Next up are the Knebworth opening Pastel. On tour last year with Afflecks Palace, they stole the show with their Verve-esque jams.
To celebrate our Manchester heroes today, we look at their new single ‘Your Day’ which premiered on the iconic Steve Lamacq show yesterday evening.
‘Your Day’
Their time with Liam Gallagher seems to have paid dividends as they deliver their most urgent record yet. The sense of being in the moment collides with a battle line in the sand as they Emerge from the shadows of giants with the clarion call:
“don’t sit around and hide for this is your day”
Seize the day is a right of passage for UK rebels. From The Enemy (“Stop living your life for the alarm”) to Billy Bragg (“The system has failed you, don’t fail yourself”), the lineage is pure and strong. The commonality is often punk or its influence, which makes Pastel’s addition more remarkable. They come with Nick McCabe flourishes, hints of the Roses’ nomadic phase (‘Good Times’ & ‘Tightrope’), primordial drums meets, and shoegaze with swagger.
Pastel may come from a different plane musically, but their punk and rebel credentials bloom in technicolour as they rewrite Joe Strummer’s “he fucks nuns will later join the church” with “the hand that shakes the suit and tie / is the one that will betray”.
Many probably believe Pastel are beyond the “cusp” we’ve discussed this week with San Quentin, The Velvet Hands, Lissy Taylor, and Holy Youth Movement. However, the industry is precarious, and bands fall by the wayside without constant care and support. In Spirit of Spike Island, Pastel have a label which allows them to breathe creatively and stay grounded financially, but it comes to nothing unless you get out to their gigs and buy their records.