The Utopiates – Making History

London-based The Utopiates are on the road to their debut album release this May. A key stop-off is their latest single ‘Making History’ released last Friday via V2 Records.

Images and artwork courtesy of the band.

Last time out on ‘Illumanise’, their free-flowing edges sharpened on their Bowie meets Black Grape trip. It also kicked off their lyrical foray into the statement of intent territory which ‘Making History’ has doubled down on.

Frontman Dan Popplewell’s lyrics deftly reference Noel Gallagher’s Knebworth entrance (“I’m not up here making tunes I’m making history”) and Oasis’ live album ‘Familiar To Millions’ (“This music, I use it to ease my soul / And there’s millions familiar, it’s rock and roll”) as he lays bare the bands desire to succeed.

Whilst the Burnage boys had the songs and, their confidence was obviously in-built, they were however financially backed by Creation Records and latterly Sony. Despite being signed to V2, the precarious state of the music industry can ill afford three trips to Rockfields to get their sound right. The urgency, the desperate need to pull this off shines through everything here. Luke Nottingham’s bassline, as funked up as their previous work is more intense, directly burrowing its way to your soul whilst Popllewell’s vocals are set to attack mode! Meanwhile, Ed Godshaw takes the pop immediacy of Clint Boon’s keys out for a joyride with New Fast Automatic Daffodils climbing majesty.

Even Josh Redding’s penchant for meandering Hendrix and Squire solos has its foot on the accelerator. His solos, so often mid-rush pieces of bliss have transformed into a rabid elapsing moment of technicolour destruction.

Far less quality has risen to the top in recent months. With The Utopiates debut album on the horizon, the UK will finally have bona fide genius and independent spirit alike on top once again!

Click the image for tickets to their upcoming tour:

The Utopiates - Illuminise

London via Leeds outfit The Utopiates have stormed 2022 with sold tours and signing to the illustrious V2 Records. They look to cap it off in style with their new single ‘Illuminise’, recorded at Nave Studios in Leeds with Producer Andy Hawkins.

Image & artwork courtesy of http://copaceticpr.com/

Their previous work has seen them in explorative moods. ‘Illuminise’ however, takes a far more direct path. Frontman Dan Popplewell introduces a snarl to his vocals, bringing Richard Archer’s early career to the fringes of Sleaford Mods’ Jason Williamson but musically, they never lose sight of their baggy spirit.

As with all their previous work though, they impart killer hooks to make you dance. The keys and bass have boiled down Delphic and Friendly Fires’ entire career into three minutes and married them with a deranged Mick Ronson solo.

The bombastic funk of Bowie’s ‘Low’ album is injected with the wayward souls of Black Grape on their most intense outing to date. The Berlin influences in the production light up frontman Dan Popplewell’s newfound venom as he dismisses the bitterness in his life:

“So when you’re wired / You’ll see me up ahead / Rising up we’re, Illuminising!”

It would have been easy for The Utopiates to deliver another groove-laden gem to send them off victorious for the year. However, they’ve gone out all guns blazing, proving that creative risk is still something to strive for. Yet, with their talent, it simply isn’t a risk!

Check back here tomorrow to hear the new single!

The Utopiates : The Social, London

Previous Utopiates gigs have seen them struggle with sound and strings. Struggle as they may have, their talent and dogged spirit always overcome. Last Wednesday, they headlined This Feeling’s Test Transmission night. It comes after a run of headline gigs and it shows. Strolling on stage, relaxed, hindered by nothing and no one, their aura says headliner forever more.

The confidence is personified by a blissed-out rendition of ‘Alpha’ as the opener. The tightly packed Social has had its pulses set alight by the anarchic holy Youth Movement and raucous garage licks of Velvet Hands. They could have been forgiven for changing their set, moving their big hitters first. Not a bit of it. They hit their casual groove and build elegantly until it’s time. Time for Josh Redding to deliver Squire psychedelia and Prince-esque majesty in the solo.

From here on in, the crowd, populated by lots of fellow bands are in total awe. Whether it’s the trippiness of ’Love Salvation’ or the Chicago-enthused ‘Devolution’, they turn heads in disbelief. On record, and especially on stage here, they mirror the greatness of Scorsese. Never rushed, they give space to the solos and Ed Godshaw’s subtle but killer keys and yet, always sound intense, like theirs a million things going on. It’s detail rather than overindulgence; personified by the brooding Depeche Mode inspired ‘Only Human’.

The window bands to reflect the audience back on stage is always a brief, and glorious time. That time passed at this gig. The Utopiates have greatness coursing through them and this was a huge stride to big stages and immorality.

*Image courtesy of Caffy St. Luce (Rocklands)

The Utopiates - Best and Worst Days

It’s a special release day for The Utopiates. ‘Best and Worst Days’ is their first signed to V2 Records and marks the official run to their debut album.

Single is available from their Bandcamp page.

The shimmering acoustic guitars of ‘Kinky Afro’ and the chilled sunset beats of ‘Dennis and Lois’ chime gloriously in the intro of this tale of looking back. Frontman Dan Popplewell’s ability to bring influences into his indie-soul vocal continues to grow. This time out, he softens his snarl to allow nodes of Bernard Sumner and Danny Wilson in. It adds to the sense of self-reflection permeating throughout but, in the closing moments, he turns on his raw power to say goodbye to his younger self.  

They’ve taken the classic rock ‘n’ roll adage of “you have to go there to comeback” and juxtaposed it with their archetypal trippy sound. It’s an astonishingly open ode to their early twenties. Nights of excess, relationship failure, and letting people down are examined from a wiser perspective. It’s that latter point that gives the track’s lyrics brevity the sonic deserves. Without the protagonists understanding that it’s made them who they are, a Cobain nihilistic nightmare would be looming.

No matter the torment of the discourse, through Ed Godhsaw’s keys, the single finds a way to cruise effortlessly to the sun. He’s lifted The Horror’s distressed seaside sonic of ‘Primary Colours’ out it’s their despair and slipped them a pill whilst dancing with New Order.

The Utopiates formed during lockdown. Quite how the bleakest of times produced something so entrenched in love is beyond us. This is not the sound of a band on the rise to their debut album. This is The Mondays approaching ‘Pills Thrills and Bellyaches’ or Depeche Mode gearing up for ‘Violator’. Fully formed and brilliant!

Catch them tonight at Colours in Hoxton.

The Utopiates - Devolution

London’s Utopiates will release their hugely anticipated debut album later this year. Starting their party in 2022 Is a new single ‘Devolution’. To date, their remarkable output has been recorded from frontman Dan Popplewell’s bedroom. Now recording at Leeds Nave Studios with producer Andy Hawkins, they have a chance to expand what is, an already colossal sound.

The Utopiates catalogue is available from their Bandcamp page.

Clearly unphased by the step into a more professional arena, they bring their love of house music to the fore. Trippy acid house drums fall and climb alongside a ‘Cannonball’ (Breeders) bassline to lay the foundations for Ed Godshaw’s brilliantly blissful keys.

On previous material, their fine rhythm section has allowed Popplewell’s indie-soul vocals soul to soar and guitarist Josh Redding to find new ways to make John Squire the past. Here, in a Bobby Gillespie show of creativity first, they step back. Popplewell’s ability to refrain gives everything more snap and, crucially, allows for a collective spirit to prosper.

Similarly, Redding’s guitar work has been spiralling psychedelic magic from the rock gods Squire and Hendrix. Barely featuring here, he drops in with enriching hooks to kneed everything together, and then, when you think the archetypal blast is coming, he meanders in like Marr with a feather-light touch.

The Utopiates have a great sense of community as a band. Among their fans and peers, they soak it all in and are there for the ride, not the destination. This single is yet more proof of that. A delicate house number which, live, who knows where they could take it on bigger stages with better light shows. Distinctively theirs it offers avenues for collaboration on remixes. Visions of Graeme Park taken it to Hacienda heights or Jagz Kooner dragging into furious despair, it just has to happen, right?

The Utopiates: 229, London

North London’s The Utopiates were second on the bill for the Shiiine On Summer Party at 229 this past Saturday. After wowing fans and critics alike with their EP ‘Anywhere But Here’, could they deliver on the big stage?

Despite technical issues, they grooved their way to the hearts and minds of the Shiiine On faithful. Former single, ‘Only Human’ lit up the room like a bush fire. Josh Redding’s guitars spiralled with such intensity alongside Dan Popplewell’s vocals to conjure, the embers are still burning bright five days on.

On ‘Antidote’, they found unity and power demands the UK’s attention, immediately. It soared above the clouds but crucially, always felt within reach. This kind of songwriting combined with this magical delivery will take them to the main stages of festivals and, thousand along to see them.

This is not a one-man band by any means but, at times Redding’s guitars drew the focus like no other of recent times. On ‘Anywhere But Here’ Popplewell’s acoustic guitar and Ed Godshaw’s keys laid the groundwork for his Squire-esque majesty.

In ‘Love Salvation’ they have set closer for life. Anthemic and euphoric, it had that mid-paced beauty that pulled a group of strangers together as one. Tripping along like Primal Scream, swaggering like Mondays, they’ve tapped into a golden age of love-seekers and found a way to make it sound fresh.

A truly astonishing performance from a band only formed in lockdown. It’s easy to see why The Pigeon Detectives have added them as support at the Forum this autumn. 

*Image courtesy of Shiiine On legend Louise Deveraux

The Utopiates - Anywhere But Here

North London outfit The Utopiates are back with their debut EP ‘Anywhere But Here’. To date, they have been nothing short of spectacular, can they maintain their form?

On their previous single ‘Only Human’, they delved into the past to paint their futures. This tried and tested method is on display once more. However, there’s an overriding sense of unity permeating the EP which takes it to new horizons.

You can buy the EP on their Bandcamp page.

‘Love Salvation’ is blessed with the soul of Puressence and Chris Helme’s infectious simplicity. As Dan Popplewell decrees “this trip is love”, images of Gareth Southgate’s England bringing harmony to a troubled nation flood the mind. All the while, Josh Redding’s guitars tap into the heart and psyche of Liam “Skin’ Tyson (Cast/Robert Plant) as they blast love into the sky. So effortless and hypnotic, they almost make Cast and Space Monkeys brand of joy redundant on this ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ meets the Mondays and Electronic meandering masterpiece

Title track ‘Anywhere But Here’ is heavily indebted to the grooves of ‘Wrote For Luck’ and the warped genius of Flowered Up. However, the menace in Popplewell’s vocals cut through to create a unique punk-cum-soul take on the baggy sound. Then, taking everything to higher planes are Redding’s guitars. Full of Mark Day’s debauchery and Squire’s ‘Second Coming’ and ‘Do It Yourself’ expansive magnificence, they climb towards the heavens like a guiding light.

Whilst the majesty dissipates somewhat on ‘The Getaway’, there is something truly laudable about its accessibility. The gentle hum of the Cure and shoegaze guitars and Popplewell’s dazzling Miles Kane vocals call upon all not just an indie niche. They can lure pop lovers towards something more meaningful and, reacquaint music obsessives with the pop that started their journey.

This EP "is love, it belongs to us and it’s the only thing worth living for.“