Marvel is leading an assault on the silver screen with 29 films planned for release by 2019 as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This includes upcoming films like Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015 and Captain America: Civil War in 2016. With the success of superhero films, some say Hollywood has given up on true cinema, though others argue these films offer something new through their use of technology and focus on fun over Oscars. The era of the superhero movie shows no signs of ending.

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2. WelcometothefirstissueofThePennyLane!Thismagazine
has been months in the making, years in the planning
and crafted from a lifetime of passion for film and music.
This magazine aims to celebrate the thriving underground
scene, bringing you the newest news, features, interviews
and releases as fast as we hear them. We love everything
bright and creative at The Penny Lane HQ and spend
hours trawling through the work of the best undiscovered
artists, then beg them to draw us something awesome. In
this issue we give you the lowdown on Marvel’s dramatic
Hollywood takeover, brand new film reviews of Cake and
Project Almanac and a definitive showdown between the
five best Jazz films. We haven’t scrimped on music either,
check out our articles on the rock chick revolution and
Royal Blood’s crazy BRITS win. Put on your record player,
grab a beer and enjoy.
Editor
Annabelle Price
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Follow us @thepennylane
THE SUPERHERO HOLLYWOOD TAKEOVER
SWING ON SCREEN
THE ROCK CHICK REVOLUTION
BJöRK IS BACK
ROYAL BLOOD BLOW UP THE BRITS
www.facebook.com/thepennylane
thepennylane.tumblr.com
11 BRAND NEW FILM RATINGS
The Penny Lane reviews Cake & Project Almanac.
The Five Greatest jazz films.
Following the release of her brand new album ‘Vulnicura’,
BJöRK is back in full whimsical force.
Brighton rock duo take home ‘Best British Group’.
How the women in rock infiltrated the all - boy’s punk scene.
With 29 films to be released by 2019, Marvel is
leading an assault on the silver screen.

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4. In recent years Superhero fans and closet comic
book readers have stepped out of the shadows
and into the glaring light of the silver screen.
Filmgoers have been spoilt for choice when it
comes to the new breed of comic book movies,
and with 29 more films to be released by 2019;
they’re in for a real treat.
Like a bunch of slightly geeky children
on Christmas morning, comic book fans
have been treated to several sets of Bat,
Super, Spider, Iron and X-Men movies.
We’ve had Avengers, Daredevils, Green
Lanterns and at least three different
increasingly credible Hulks and yet, it
seems, we have barely started.
In 2015, we will see more Avengers
in the ‘Age of Ultron’, another crack at the
Fantastic Four franchise and the debut
outing of a guy called Ant-Man, who I
would guess has a superpower of carrying
big bits of leaf and crawling all over your
sandwiches at a picnic. Right?
And after these (bound to be) big
screen hits, there are even more in the
works. That’s 29 more Marvel films by
2019 to be precise.
News has just broken that Marvel is
even battling off super weight production
companies like Sony to secure their next
big Superhero blockbuster.
Sony has released two separate
Spiderman franchises, headed up by two
very different actors squeezing all their
bits and bobs into that famous spidey
leotard.
2002 - 2007 were the highly acclaimed
Toby Maguire years. The former bit-part
actor helped the Spider-Man films become
the sixth highest-grossing franchise of all-
time. But whilst the first two films were a
raving success, it was almost all ruined by
the underwhelming ‘Spider-Man 3’. While
a sequel to the (again, abysmal) third film
was in development, Sony announced
that the franchise would instead be
S uPERH E Ro
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Words: Annabelle Price
rebooted.
Toby Maguire was out and a skinny
British boy was in. Next came the dawn
of Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker,
supported by on-screen/off-screen
girlfriend Emma Stone, in the role of
‘good looking blonde love interest’.
‘The Amazing Spider-man’ reboot was
a relative success with two movies, an
exciting cast and some big opening
weekends. But once film fans realised
that the Amazing Spider- man had simply
recycled the same scripts from the first
few movies – the novelty soon wore off.
Swapping a ‘hot ginger’ (Kirsten Dunst
as Mary Jane) for a ‘hot blonde’ (Emma
Stone as Gwen Stacy) isn’t really a big
enough plot twist Sony.
In February 2015, Marvel Studios and
Sony Pictures announced that Spider-
Man would now be a part of the Marvel
Cinematic Universe following a deal
to share the rights of the character. It
seems the web-slinger could now appear
in 2016’s ‘Captain America: Civil War’,
finally be included in the Avengers Clan
and there’s even another bloody solo film
slated for July 2018 - the superhero’s
sixth lone outing. It will also mean a third
actor stepping into the tight latex shoes
of Maguire and Garfield. Sony have
made it abundantly clear to the current
Spider-man actor and the worlds press
that they’re “going in a new direction”.
The constant stream of Superhero
films in cinema have led cultural
commentators to declare this the end
of Hollywood. In the eyes of the a few
1 >> 2

5. overly dramatic film
writers, big-budget studios
seem to have given up on
true cinema to throw all of
their money at films with
secret identities, human
flight, game-level CGI and
a Marvel script.
Of Course this means
that we, as filmgoers, have
lost interest in ‘proper’
films and our attention
spans are now shorter
than ever. But have
superhero films taken
over or are they just the
trailblazers for a different
type of filmmaking? Are
they overthrowing home-
grown cinema with their
fancy green screens and
motion censor cameras?
When these comic
book heroes were born,
no longer imprisoned in
the imaginations of their
wildly innovative creators,
it was the 1930’s and
’40’s. Theses times were
dark and difficult, where
a comic book symbolised
a cultural escape. There
was an opportunity
for avid readers to put
down the monochrome
broadsheets and immerse
themselves in colourful,
artistic comic strips.
The times we live in
now could be considered
as similarly grim. But the
difference with children
(and adults) today is a
shortened attention span.
In the 21st century a
cultural escape is better
observed in moving
image.
So why apologise for
looking forward to ‘Batman
v Superman’ and ‘X-Men:
Apocalypse’ in 2016,
‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Black
Panther’ and yet another
Wolverine movie in 2017
(Hugh Jackman won’t ever
go out of fashion) or even
‘Aquaman’ in 2018, whose
only superpower is …
swimming?
Films like Batman
and Superman are not
narratively on a par with
great Shakespearean
classics or Aesop’s fables,
but they offer something
new. Big budget superhero
films are celebratory
of cutting edge cinema
technology and creativity.
These films are made to
be fun, to be enjoyed and
not to win Oscars.
Whatever your opinion,
this is undeniably the era
of the Superhero movie.
And with Marvel’s team
consisting of the hammer-
wielding Thor, that smart
arse Iron Man and green
powerhouse The Hulk,
it’s not looking like
anybody has the power to
stop it.
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6. Swing ON
G R EATEST
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Whiplash (2014) was Damien Chazelle’s
exhilarating and provocative foray into jazz
cinema, a film that has been an overwhelming
success at the box office and a token winner
at countless award ceremonies. In celebration,
The Penny Lane has compiled a list of the
top five films to successfully pair cinema with
the hearty, hard-hitting rhythm of jazz music.
>>

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THEMANWITH
THEGOLDENARM
ST.LOUISBLUES
BIRD
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BLUES
>>
Three years later St
Louis Blues (1958) hit the
silver screen, documenting
the tumultuous tale of blues
composer and musician
William Christopher Handy.
Handy, widely known as
the “Father of the Blues”,
remains among the most
influential of American
songwriters and has even
been credited with giving
blues its contemporary
form.
The film starred jazz and
blues greats Nat “King”
Cole, Pearl Bailey, Cab
Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald
and Eartha Kitt, as well as
actress Ruby Dee.
In conjunction with
the film, Nat “King” Cole
recorded an album of W. C.
Handy compositions and
Ella Fitzgerald incorporated
“St. Louis Blues” into her
live performances.
Despite the incredible
company, it was still
Handy’s music that
remained most prominent in
the final film. More than ten
songs from his successful
repertoire were used.
The film became more
than a celebration of Jazz,
instead acting as a faithful
ode to Handy and his
dedication to the genre.
St Louis Blues offered
Nat “King” Cole his only
lead role in a Hollywood
film, whilst 85-year- old
Handy served as a
consultant. But in a
heart-breaking twist, the
legendary musician died
shortly before the film
opened.
Mo’ Better Blues is a
1990 drama starring Denzel
Washington, Wesley Snipes and
Spike Lee. The film follows a
period in the life of fictional jazz
trumpeter, Bleek Gilliam (played
by Washington), as a series of
bad decisions jeopardise both
his relationships and musical
career.
Denzel Washington and
Wesley Snipes did not play their
instruments in the film but were
instead trained to convincingly
mimic the playing of them.
Experienced musicians Terence
Blanchard and Donald Harrison
spent hours tutoring the pair in
how to ‘fake’ play the trumpet
and saxophone.
Once filming was completed,
Washington admitted that he
was lucky if he could play three
notes of a simple tune prior to
working on the film, but ended
up being able to perfectly mimic
most of the songs he had to
perform.
The music recordings that
can be heard when the actors
are “playing” was performed by
‘Branford’s Working Band’. In
the nineties the band were well
known as the house musicians
for The Tonight Show with Jay
Leno .
In 1988, American
biographical film Bird was
released. The tribute to
the life and music of jazz
saxophonist Charlie “Bird”
Parker (played by Forest
Whittaker), was produced
and directed by Clint
Eastwood.
The motion picture is
lovingly constructed as a
montage of scenes from
Parker’s life, starting with
his childhood in Kansas
City and through to his
early death at the age of
thirty-four.
Although Bird was not
Eastwood’s first directorial
outing, it was the first of his
films to win an Academy
Award. Unsurprisingly the
film collected the Oscar for
‘Best Sound’.
Initially, when Columbia
owned the project, the
studio executives wanted to
hire musicians to re-record
all of Parker’s music. This
was largely because most of
the original recordings were
in mono and considered
of insufficient sound
quality to accompany a
feature film. But before the
recording process could
begin, Clint Eastwood was
taken aside by Parker’s
widow, Chan. She gave the
director a collection of her
husbands lost recordings
from a secret bank vault.
Eastwood then had a sound
engineer electronically
isolate Parker’s solos and
invited other musicians to
simply play the remaining
parts. Contemporary artists
such as Ray Brown, Walter
Davis. Jr and Ron Carter all
recorded accompaniment
for the award-winning
soundtrack.
Although the saxophone
playing in the film is
original Charlie Parker
performances, Charles
McPherson performs the
body and finger work on
screen. The actor had to
learn to move, and even
breathe, exactly like Parker
did in the recordings.
In 1955, Otto Preminger joined
forces with the superstar-of-the-
moment Frank Sinatra, to make
The Man with the Golden Arm. The
American drama tells the story of a
heroin addict who gets clean while
in prison, but struggles to stay
that way in the outside world, only
finding solace in a gifted drum set.
Frank Sinatra jumped at the
chance to star in the film before
he had even read the entire script.
Completely immersing himself in
the role, the Hollywood legend
even chose to spend time at a
drug rehabilitation clinic observing
addicts going cold turkey.
The Motion Picture Association
of America had originally refused to
issue a seal for the movie because
of the intense drug addiction it
showcased. But within a year the
production code had been altered
and films could now deal with
drugs on screen. The Man with
the Golden Arm became one of
the pioneering firsts to address the
issue.
Unlike in Whiplash, Sinatra didn’t
play the drums like his character
did. Despite his years spent as a
professional singer, Sinatra cannot
even read music, instead learning
songs by ear.
The hands that can be seen
on screen belong to Milton Birle.
Oddly, Birle was not a professional
drummer either, but the host of
his own successful primetime TV
show.

8. SVENKLANG’S
KVINTETT
9 1010
The most obscure jazz film on our
list is the 1976 Swedish blockbuster,
Sven Klang’s Kvintett, directed by
Stellan Olsson.
The scripted drama re-creates the
50s music scene of a small town in
southern Sweden. The film explores
the turbulent career of a dedicated
jazz group, The Sven Klang Quintet.
Originally a band of four
musicians, they are a content
group until a sax player known as
Lasse, joins the ranks. It seems
that he inspires all the players but
bandleader Sven Klang, questioning
the front mans authority and
causing endless issues for the small
town band.
The black-and-white feature film
was a runaway hit in Sweden at
the time of its release but is often
forgotten when it comes to listing
great jazz films.
Despite the films lack of notoriety
on the International circuit, at the
13th Guldbagge Awards the film
was presented with the ‘Special
Achievement Award’ for its
unprecedented success in Sweden.
The film was then honoured
in 2012, 36 years after it’s initial
release, as one of the ‘25 Best
Swedish Films of all time’.
Words: Annabelle Price

9. ,
REVIEW
Cake
Directed by: Daniel Barnz
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington
Release Date: 23rd January 2015
Jennifer Aniston stars as Claire, a
rich woman on the verge of suicide who
pops Percocet to ease the (physical and
emotional) agony caused by a recent
car accident. Aniston also wears baggy
clothes, tells lies constantly, is freakishly
obsessed with homemade cakes and
complains, all the damn time.
Aniston’s Claire takes class-
conscious and an unsentimental nature
to a whole new level, whilst making
exceedingly good use of the word
“bitch”.
Claire is a whizz at deadpan humour.
She stares intently at the grave of
someone’s beloved wife, then asks: “Is
that granite? I’m thinking of putting a
kitchen island in the back garden.” The
morbidity of Claire’s character, teamed
with the daily chronic pain she endures,
strangely makes for an achingly
optimistic film. My personal hardship of
having to deal with running out of milk
in the mornings, doesn’t seem to be as
heartbreaking when you look at it in the
persepctive of somebody suffering with
chronic pain.
Poor Aniston continues to be defined
by the striking brilliance she displayed
in Friends. Although it’s lovely to see
her face without make-up and her hair
limp and lifeless (a personal victory for
‘normal women’). She eloquently finds a
way to convey damage without pleading
for sympathy.
Patrick Tobin’s script explores the
fuzzy nature of pain (Can it always be
conquered by a “fighting spirit”?) with
genuine care but I can’t help think that
Cake is too serious and yet, not serious
enough. The serious subject of chronic
pain is somewhat undermined by the
constant deadpan humour and dry
sarcasm. The patronising use of humour
kind of just gets on my nerves. Still, if
you’re already feeling frayed, it might just
hit the spot.
11 12
REVIEW
Project Almanac
Directed by: Dean Israelite
Starring: Jonny Weston, Sofia Black - D’Elia
Release date: 16th February 2015
Project Almanac tells the story of a
group of teens that discover secret plans
of a time machine and (stupidly) decide
to build one. But of course, they find that
building a time machine isn’t without its
problems and things don’t go to plan.
While Project Almanac’s plot is not
particularly innovative, it does appear to
be the first of a new hybrid film, crossing
“time-travel” with the “found footage”
genre.
I’m sure the film would be a splendour
for avid time travel fans, there are
endless whirring visuals, long science-
ey words, cool robotic inventions and
an exciting mix of camera techniques.
But the dreaded “shaky cam” makes a
return to the big screen and it is a love/
hate apparatus, which I personally hate.
I can deal with the handheld camera
feel for a couple of minutes at most and
then I begin to feel slightly seasick, even
more so when being subjected to an
hour of the unbalanced camera angles
on a huge cinema screen. A lot of the
dialogue-only scenes would have been
better served by a more traditional style
of camera work, constantly holding onto
a camcorder doesn’t seem plausible a lot
of the time (and it’s rather annoying).
The characters as a whole felt generic,
with the unknown cast taking on the
roles of a number of stereotypical teen
characters (i.e. the outgoing boy, unruly
boy, and the ‘sometimes I have poor
judgment’ boy). Admittedly the actors
did an impressive job of bringing the
teenagers to life, but that’s probably
because they’re the exact age of the kids
they were playing.
Despite an interesting plotline and
well put together cast of Hollywood
newbies, the film spent too much time
developing the storyline. By the time
the action finally began, I was beyond
disinterested.

10. MUSIC
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ARTISTQ&A’S
COMPETITIONS
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11. Björk isbackTwo months before its original March release date and just a week after announcing
it via a handwritten note, Björk released her new album Vulnicura. An artist famed
for her whimsical musical stylings and celestial voice, the Icelandic
songstress is ready and raring for a successful 2015.
Vulnicura (“Cure for Wounds”) is the
follow up to Björk’s skittering, science-
inspired album Biophilia, released three
years ago.
The eighth album by the cult artist is a
self-penned and arguably self-indulgent
album that chronologically charts the
singers heartbreak surrounding her split
from longtime partner, Matthey Barney.
Addressing the writing of the album,
Björk admitted on Facebook that one year
into writing she realised she was making a
complete heartbreak album. Though she
initially worried about the self-indulgent
nature of her songs, Björk eventually “felt it
might make it even more universal”.
She added:” Hopefully the songs
could be a help, a crutch to others and
prove how biological this process is: The
wound and the healing of the wound.
Psychologically and physically, it has a
stubborn clock attached to it.”
Björk is notorious for her fierce
individuality as an artist and when it comes
to recording her albums, the singer tends
to be similarly guarded. But the making of
Vulnicura marked a change for the multi-
award winner, who accepted the help of
a Venezuelan-born and New-York based
producer.
Arca, who specialises in dessicated
deconstructions of apocalyptic dance
music, and who worked with Kanye
West on Yeezus and FKA Twigs on LP1,
approached Björk with the opportunity to
make some music together in 2011 and
she graciously accepted.
Although the album was due to be
released in March in conjunction with the
Björk: Archives book and an exhibition
about Björk’s career at the Museum of
Modern Art, an internet leak forced the
singer to bring her release forward.
The album, named Billboard’s most
anticipated of 2015, has received rave
reviews since it’s early release. Being
followed up by the anouncement of a
number of live shows across America for
the veteran performer.
It appears quite evident that after a
career spanning more than twenty years,
Björk has no intention of slowing down
just yet.
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12. Handbags
Headbangs:
&
THE ROCK CHICK REVOLUTION
The punk rock scene was once notorious for being an all-boys’ club, where
women could be in the crowd at a show or on the arm of a rockstar, but they
had no place on stage. Thankfully as music has evolved, attitudes towards
women have too. In recognition of International Womans day on March 8th,
we look at the story behind the rock chick revolution.
Words: Annabelle Price
“When we started touring, there were next to
no young women fronting bands like ours”,
said Hayley Williams in a recent interview
with MTV.
The flame-haired 26-year old is arguably the
21st Centuries most famous woman in rock.
As the vocalist in grammy-nominated and
multi-platinum selling punk band, Paramore,
Williams has spent the last ten years touring
and asserting herself as a role model for
aspiring rock singers. She has recently been
awarded Billboard’s first ‘Women in Music
Trailblazer Award’, which acknowledges how
the unassuming 5 ft 1 Nashville native, can
kick higher and spit further than any boy on
stage.
But as a 16-year old girl touring in a punk
rock band, with her four best (male) friends,
Williams was as rare as they came. And
audiences didn’t always respond to her in
the most heartwarming ways; “There were
the odd nights where pretty much all I was
good for was a sounding board for various
meatheads who’s chivalry peaked at “Take off
your top!”. But I stood my ground and never
walked off any of those stages.”
Wiliams’ determination has helped to pave the
way for a host of talented front women, but she
was certainly not the first of her kind.
The 1970’s was an era of experimentation;
the hair was bigger, the platformed shoes
were taller and the attitude to sex, drugs and
rock & roll was far more freethinking. But finally
for women in rock, there was a blossoming
market for ‘girls with guitars’. There was an
emergence of talented female musicians and
singers on the rock scene in the seventies,
who shunned the soul and pop genre’s where
most women were safely successful. For the
first time, performers such as Joan Jett, Patti
Smith, Suzi Quatro, Janis Joplin and Stevie
Nicks were being given a stage to sing on,
guitars to play and an audience who loved
every minute of it.
17 >>18

13. “I definitely now,
more than ever,
embrace the fact
that I’m a woman
on stage. I love
being an underdog
and proving people
wrong.”
Hayley Williams
The Runaways were one of the first iconic all-girl
hard rock bands to hit the market. They stormed
onto the male scene wielding guitars like axes,
an untouchable talent and a musical prowess
that acted as a giant middle finger to the
patriarchal scene that had once ignored them.
The Runaways offered up a serious brand of
blistering rock, a territory that few other females
had ventured into. Later, Heart would explode
onto the scene with the Wilson sisters Ann and
Nancy serving up some of the most polished
guitar - based rock ever released.
The female rock stars of the 1980’s led a
valiant continuation of the progress for women
in the scene, progress that was initiated so
impressively in the decade previously. Siouxsie
Sioux of Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees was
an early dabbler in the London punk rock scene
of the mid-70’s, who proved to be one of the
most influential and maverick artists of the post-
punk era. Siouxsie and the Banshees immediately
achieved U.K. success with their avant-garde,
early Goth rock sound. In the 80’s alone, the band
released an incredible seven studio albums and
toured relentlessly.
The post-punk era also allowed for women who had
been in succesful punk bands, to begin solo careers.
Joan Jett, founding member of The Runaways,
embarked on a solo record with her dedicated
and capable backing band, The Blackhearts. Jett
had proved that she appealed to fans of punk
rock, hard rock, mainstream rock and even heavy
metal. Her versatility as a rock artist personified
her solo work as she maintained her ‘badass rock
chick’ aura that had made her such an influential
player in the scene. She also managed to blend an
undeniably sexy feminity with an aggressive image,
an approach that was usually reserved for the
testosterone-heavy lineups of the majority of hard
rock bands (We’re looking at you Mick Jagger).
Along with artists such as Liz Phair, Tori Amos
and Hole’s Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette rose
to prominence in the Nineties and represented a
new wave of women in music who were outspoken,
unhinged, aggressive and overtly sexual. After
riot grrrl -the underground punk movement- had
exploded at the beginning of the decade, it wasn’t
long before the mainstream music world welcomed
a number of opinionated female rock acts. These
were the heroines of their generation, women
who rejected their mothers’ brand of feminism
and deconstructing femininity by playing hard and
playing loud.
Morissette’s real success in the punk rock scene
came in 1995, with the release of ‘Jagged Little Pill’,
an album laced with unapologetic rage. Morrisette
wrote brutal lyrics such as “It was a slap in the face
how quickly I was replaced/ Do you still think of me
when you f**k her?”. In response, Rolling Stone
magazine famously put her on their cover with the
caption “Angry White Female”.
The era of the angry rock chick began to die down
in the late nineties and early noughties, with a new
breed of frontwomen such as Gwen Stefani of No
Doubt. Stefani chose to use her tousled blonde
hair, enviously rock hard abs and sweet voice to
represent her femininity on stage. Stefani was
lorded over by rock fans for her sex-bomb status
and cult-celeb following but she continued to
maintain a strong female stance in an overtly male
scene.
In 2009, Stefani and her bandmates joined forces
with the newest leading lady in rock, by inviting
Paramore to tour with them on their North American
arena tour. The 45-date tour was an epic celebration
of two of the best frontwomen in punk rock history
and a call-to-arms for other rock chicks to don their
skinny jeans, put on a pair of scuffed converse and
jump onstage with them.
Women were once seen as nothing more than
a pretty face, being used to draw in audiences
whilst an all male backing band carried the group
musically. Whilst Gwen Stefani and Hayley Williams
are the only women in their respective bands,
Stefani is a talented pianist and producer whilst
Williams plays three instruments and was initially
drafted into the band as a drummer.
The punk rock pair are not alone in their musical
talent – there are the multi-instrumentalist, grammy
award winning Haim sisters, drummer Meg White
19 >>20

14. 21 22
of the White Stripes and keyboard
playing Sydney Sierota, of MTV’s
2015 ‘Artists to watch’, Echosmith.
London’s Capital FM’s head of
music George Ergatoudis, recently
researched which audiences
preferred which specific genres
of music. Unsurprisingly, he
found that there was a strong
appreciation of rock music among
teenage girls.
“Gender stereotyping is a big
part of the story here. There’s an
expectation that girls will like pop
and R&B, but there are plenty of
girls who don’t want to be within
that stereotype”.
And there are plenty of girls who
want to read about rock music
too. Kerrang! is the biggest selling
weekly rock magazine and their
readership is 51% female. Young
women are choosing to immerse
themselves completely in the
genre and their dedication can no
longer be ignored.
Thanks to the passionate
rock chicks of the seventies
who blazed through the male
dominated scene with sheer
determination and unquestionable
talent, women have mercilessly
infiltrated punk rock in the last
three decades. More women
than ever are selling out arenas,
having their songs played on the
radio and winning awards for their
unrivalled success in a music
scene that used to severely lack
a female presence. There is still
work to be done for the women in
punk music today, but in the face
of adversity, these girls are kicking
some serious ass.

15. B L O W U P
T H E B R I T S23 24
Brighton rock duo Royal Blood
were the surprise winners of ‘Best
British Group’ at the 2015 Brit Awards,
crushing competition in the form of
Alt-J, Coldplay, Clean Bandit and, what
was that other one? Oh yeah, One
Direction. But with a debut number
one album and support slots with
Muse and Foo Fighters already under
their belts, Royal Blood have been on
the road to musical domination from
day one.
Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher turned up to the
Brit Awards late in February in classic rock star
style. The pair wore matching leather jackets,
black skinny jeans and a steely stare as they
strolled along the red carpet, posing for the
odd photographer along the way. The friends
were nominated for three Brit Awards, with
Royal Blood vying for a win in the ‘Best British
Group’, ‘Mastercard British Album’ and ‘British
Breakthrough Act’ categories.
Despite their impressive number of
nominations, when rock icon Jimmy Page
announced Royal Blood as the ‘Best British
Group’ the unassuming band were more than a
little shocked.
“This is a huge surprise for us - it’s probably
more of a surprise for people here as you
probably don’t know who we are,” said the
band’s Mike Kerr, as he struggled to compile a
last minute winner’s speech.
It completed a startlingly successful seven
days for the hard rock duo, who a week before
had won the ‘Best New Band’ and ‘Best Live
Band’ prizes at the NME Awards.
The BRIT Awards were uncertain territory for
the Brighton rock band. Once again the awards
were severely lacking in rock music, choosing
to pit bands such as Royal Blood against
manufactured pop groups like One Direction.
It is this outdated sentiment that ignores the
differences in musical genre and meant that
Royal Blood were never really deemed to be in
contention for such a prestigious accolade. But
thankfully, the bands damning and undeniable
breed of hard-drumming, explosive riff driven
rock music was something that could not go
unnoticed.
Incredibly bassist/singer Mike and drummer
Ben only formed Royal Blood in 2013, recieving
an early boost when Arctic Monkeys drummer
Matt Helders wore a Royal Blood T-shirt during
their Glastonbury headline set that summer.
A recommendation from the rock juggernauts
meant that Royal Blood were destined for big
things with the release of their debut album.
Low and behold, when the self-titled CD
was released in August 2014, it went straight
to No 1 in the UK charts and was the fastest-
selling British rock debut album in three years,
according to the Official Charts Company.
The pair only started playing to significant
audiences a year ago. “That was the weirdest
feeling,” Kerr told the Guardian last August.
“Going to places you’ve never been to or played
and there’s 200 people there. That concept is
pretty mind-blowing.”
The days of Royal Blood playing to 200
people are long gone, after winning their BRIT
Award in front of a packed 02 Arena they went
on to perform an electrifying live version of their
hit single ‘Figure it out’ in front of the 10,000
strong crowd.
The performance, complete with lasers
and strobe lighting, was ferociously loud and
fiercely energetic. Royal Blood have warranted
critical acclaim for their live rock show that is so
exhilariating you forget you are watching a band
of just two people. Aside from their powerful
stage presence and impressively catchy songs,
the pair are multi-talented insturmentalists. Kerr
uses a uniquely tuned guitar that allows him to
play both lead and bass simultaneously, whilst
Thatcher drums harder and faster than anyone
we’ve ever seen.
Their status as one of the hottest new rock
bands has even secured them a support slot
with the legendary Foo Fighters (and fellow
2015 BRIT winners) on their UK arena tour later
this year.
Mark our words, Royal Blood are about
to blow up big time and you’re going to love
watching it happen.
Words:AnnabellePrice