Holy Youth Movement – Fearless

Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement have returned with their new single ‘Fearless’. It was produced and mixed by the legendary Jagz Kooner( Sabres Of Paradise/ Primal Scream / Andrew Weatherall) at his Stone Circle Studio.

*banner image credit: Alan Wells

Previous releases have conjured a mesh of Primal Scream and Kasabian. Intoxicating as they have been, in truth, they lacked their own presence to catapult them to the big time.

Step forward, ‘Fearless’.

The sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of their previous work remain strong as they finally tip over into club classic territory. It’s a realm so many bands flirt with; few have the confidence or the skill to take the plunge, leaving it to others to remix.

Not HYM!

Frontman Tom Newman strikes a poignant tone in his delivery, whilst Tom “Schmidt” Smith’s synths distil the ecstatic joy of Underworld’s ‘Rez’ into a sensational hook. Whilst the gas has been stepped off, the potency remains prominent. The out-and-out club sonic has delicate guitars chiming with the lightest of touches, and basslines destined to be the catalyst for success.

As we approach closing party season, ‘Fearless’ is set to soundtrack lifelong memories and love-fuelled friendships with the skittish synths and defiant vocals soaring through night skies.

 Click the image to buy the hit debut novel from Wrestletalk’s Oli Davis.

Holy Youth Movement – The Next One

Bristol-based Holy Youth Movement, in collaboration with renowned producer Jagz Kooner (Primal Scream, Andrew Weatherall, Sabres Of Paradise), is set to make a comeback on the 25th of April via Ditto Label Services. This marks the release of their second single from the highly anticipated ‘Shock of the Future’ EP, scheduled for July.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

On ‘The Shock of the Future, ’ HYM was in a realm where dance and rock music roamed seamlessly together. Here, they’re leaning into their love of electronic music far more. The atmospheric build soundtracks a hopeful entrance into a smoke-filled room before you lose yourself in sweat and hedonism.

Frontman Tom Newman, so often an explosion of technicolour, remains in a hushed and measured groove, allowing the synths and Kooner’s production values to shine with a glitched euphoria somewhere between Bicep and Josh Wink.

Holy Youth Movement - The Shock of the Future

Bristol-based Holy Youth Movement will release their new single, ‘The Shock of the Future’ (Ditto Label Services), on Thursday, March 28th. Produced by the Jagz Kooner (Primal Scream, Andrew Weatherall, Sabres Of Paradise), it’s the lead single from their upcoming debut EP of the same name.

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

In 2023, HYM supported Primal Scream and The Dandy Warhols. Both can be heard on this wild electronic rock ‘n’ roll single. The bugged-eyed glam-rock electronic stomp of ‘Detroit’ and the dirge euphoria of ‘Every Day Should Be Holiday’ link arms with Radio 4’s ‘Party Crashers’ on this breakthrough single.

The 00s was awash with bands with dance music sympathies. The Rapture, Radio 4, White Rose Movement, Kasabian, Keith, and Sunshine Underground are among the finest. Whilst they cut through various scenes, there was a world between the single and the remix. HYM are emerging as the seamless middle ground. Guitars roll into synths and back again whilst frontman Tom Newman sways like Nick Drake fronting Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. For the first time in an age, rock ‘n’ roll’s wheel is being nudged towards invention and it’s utterly intoxicating.

 HYM will release the next single from the EP ‘The Next One’ on Thursday 25th April. On this breathtaking showing, it’s going to agonising wait to see what they do next.

Holy Youth Movement: Shiiine On 2023

“Better, better together / I feel stronger, stronger than ever”

Last week, Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement kicked off the Friday night on Centre Stage at the Shiiine On Weekender.

In the last eighteen months, we’ve seen HYM support Rolla, The Utopiates, and play (but not headline) This Feeling’s stage at Truck Festival. Their short but devastating sets have always left us with the feeling there is more in the tank. At Shiiine, they brought the tank!

What was lacking from those shows was time and grandeur. The longer set and better-rigged stage afforded them at Shiiine laid bare their ability to look like superstars! Epitomised by the intoxicating instrumental ‘Raz’ opening the set. The snarling electronica and thudding basslines hit a groove that demanded full attention.

Enter the stage frontman Tom Newman to the ecstatic synths of ‘You Thought I Was Dead’. Resplendent in his boiler suit and shades, Newman is supercharged on this Primal Scream ‘XTRMNTR’ classic in the making. The guitars fire into the ether like four-minute warning sirens as the synths distort with kaleidoscopic chaos.

Minute by minute, the Shiiine crowd filter into the late-night venue. Ebbing closer to the magnetic power of their early Kasabian trips. During ‘Better Together’, a moment of unification only topped by The Farm’s ‘All Together Now’ crystalises. Although the tempo drops, the intensity burns just as brightly. The spirit of unification conjured by the Primals, and the dearly departed Weatherall and Johnson in ’91 oozes through the room with a soul-enriching blissfulness.

No HYM gig is complete without the blistering ‘Tranquilizer’. Recorded with Andrew Innes and produced by Jagz Kooner, the Bristol quintet have a weapon of mass distraction in their armoury. With the light show coming at the Shiiine crowd like a technicolour blitz, Newman strutted from the crowd to band members like the pied piper of rock ‘n’ roll leading us to salvation.

Holy Youth Movement: This Feeling Stage, Truck Festival

Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement played This Feeling’s stacked Thursday night line-up at Truck Festival last week. Images courtesy of Alan Wells.

Images courtesy of Alan Wells.

There had been some stand-out performances from Bag of Cans and Vega Rally earlier in the day, but this was Truck Festival’s lift-off moment. ‘Tranquilizer’ unleashed the devil of Primal Scream’s ‘XTRMNTR’ and sent a packed tent into a pure state of mayhem.

‘Information Is Beautiful’ and ‘You Thought I Was Dead’ buzzed and throbbed with the warped ambition of Kasabian and the deranged melody of Radio 4. The pulsating basslines and the iconic moves of frontman Tom Newman continuously whipped up a fever that echoed long into the night and the hearts of all who witnessed.

Mentor and Producer Jagz Kooner was looking on, with what must have been immense pride. His 00s remixes have been reimagined for the modern day by Holy Youth Movement’s dynamite vision. It can’t be long until the Bristol outfit have the same respect put on their name as his.

Click the image below for tickets to their Shiiine On show this November:

Rolla – Hey You

Don't wait to be found
Come along with our sound

Image and artwork courtesy of Fear PR

Manchester’s Rolla follow up on their tour with Kasabian with their new single ‘Hey You’. The single is taken from their upcoming debut EP ‘Nothing Less Than Everything’ which will be released on April 5th.

It’s bizarre how a band so seminal as The Verve have remained so uninfluential these past 15 years. Exit Calm was a fine exponent of their work in the early part of the last decade but no one else has really stood up. Like buses, two have come at once in recent times from Manchester. There’s been Pastel, who have been beautifully in tune with delicate jams of ‘Storm In Heaven’. Whereas Rolla have pulled in the power of ‘A Northern Soul’ and the sprawling melody of ‘Urban Hymns’.

If Noel Gallagher had possessed Nick McCabe’s guitar ability then ‘Hey You’ could have been the sound of the Oasis’s third album. Luke McConnell and Tom Paddon’s guitars have that hissing power of Oasis’ live presence circa 95-97 but, with the deft touches of McCabe. The latter’s influence looms much larger creatively as the band takes you on a journey without a destination to free your soul. The yelps of ‘Rolling People’, the howling furore of ‘A New Decade’, and the perilous defiance of ‘Come On’ unite on what is, as close to pure art as rock ‘n’ roll can sound.

Frontman James Gilmore harness the more melodic moments of Tm Meighan’s time in Kasabian alongside a venom not yet seen. The demonic nature of Richard Ashcroft on ‘This IS Music’ and ‘No Knock On My Door’ ooze from his soul whilst his brother Luke’s bass throbs with the grooves of criminally underrated ‘Gravity grave’.

Rolla’s ascent to the top not only looks inevitable, it looks gloriously volatile. They throb with danger and excitement at every turn. They are reigniting the mysticism of the rock star and it’s intoxicating.

 Click here for the last remaining tickets for their UK tour:

Holy Youth Movement: The Social, London

Second up on This Feeling’s Test Tranmission night was Bristol’s Holy Youth Movement. They have been supporting headliners The Utopiates across the UK this past summer.

Back in the 00s, many bands tried to bridge the gap between rock ‘n’ roll and breaks. Kasabian and Radio 4 got the closest, although, if we’re honest, neither married the two to a level the scene deserved.

Step forward Holy Youth Movement!

Everything about them screams Kasabian debut, nu-school breaks, and 3am mayhem in nightclubs (remember them!). Previous singles ‘Information Is beautiful’ and ‘Tranquilizer’ explode into the ether like a Serge Pizzorno wet dream. The former is blessed with the melodic yet destructive synths of Justice vs Simian alongside the beauty and volatility of the Primals ‘XTRMNTR’. It allows their message of humanity to come together, no matter the chaos, to land instantaneously.

Images courtesy of Caffy St Luce

‘Tranquilizer’ however, does what all post ‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ Kasabian albums have attempted and failed. It delivers a post-apocalyptic rave that throbs and thunders its way to the soul. The guttural electronica of Underground meets the spirit of BRMC ‘Whatever Happened to My Rock ‘n’ Roll’. It leaves the room feeling hollow afterward. It looked your soul in the eye, licked it, fucked it, and left whistling leaving you desperate for more.

It’s easy to see why the legendary Jagz Kooner hooked up with the band in the studio. Holy Youth Movement have tapped into the post-headliner twitching hours of Bestival and Secret Garden Party from 2005 to 2015. Crucial to the success of this live slot is their ability to enthral and show off like a rock ‘n’ band.  They’re not willing to just bring rock music to dance once again. They want both to be as one and, for the most part, they nailed this aim.