49 – ‘Ruby Surge’, ‘Aestrid’ and ‘Hollywood Tramp’

Ruby Surge:

Ruby Surge’s facebook page here

“Emerging from the depths of a drinking town in West Wales is a gang of five lads armed with anthemic, rocking tunes to break free from the shackles of mundane life.
Ruby Surge have been going for a little over 18 months, carefully crafting and strengthening their stomping set while playing gigs across the South Wales area.
Trapped by the quicksand effect of small town life, the boys are intent on making a better life for themselves through music, while aiming to improve the lives of others, if only for a three-minute song or a 45-minute show.
“Music is our way out, it’s a constructive way of day dreaming, if you like,” said lyricist Lee MacGregor.
“A lot of our tunes are written as a form of escapism – looking at the positives you can get from life, how things can get better, and they can.
“But we’re human, so others are written in anger. Times are hard, people are struggling and we feel it as much as the next person. But, again, from that we’re taking positives by writing songs, rather than smashing windows and filling our boots.”
Frontman Mathew Morris Jones emphasises the importance of playing live.
“There’s no better feeling than watching people really getting into your band’s tunes, even singing them back to you – at that point you know you are making a difference,” he said.
“Rock ’n’ Roll is not about the sex and drugs and all those clichés, it’s about having it on stage, giving people a break from their lives.” ”

(Biography info obtained from the band’s facebook page)

Aestrid:

www.aestrid.com

“Founding member, Bo Menning delivers a sound that could be categorised as something like Indie music. Songs patched together by many different sounds, picked carefully and each placed in the right puzzle. Creating something intense and emotional with melodies flying around like sparks. Like tracks that start off with the sound of a lonely choirboy echoeing down the hall, followed by a build up to where the heavens meet the stars and crashing into a patchwork of melodies that keep on expanding and expanding. In the process of songwriting Menning works purely from his broken memories and images that got stuck somewhere in him as he’s trying to re-assemble them in sound. You can taste the feeling escape in the songs as you picture yourself in the woods along with Menning’s highly emotive mix of sounds and vocals. This all results in an intense, at times blood-curling, live performance, playing with a whole range of elctronics and acoustic sounds.

For the last 3 years Bo Menning has been locked away from the world in his Omega Studio working on Aestrid’s 2nd album. Creating this bubble around himself had its ups and downs, but something pure and unique. That’s for sure.

Aestrid released their first album in 2005: ‘In d’Esprit Pornographique’, which was well received with a lot of positive reviews. The new album, ‘The Echo Resistance’ has been mixed at Real World Studios in Box, UK, by Marco Migliari (New Order, Massive Attack, Sigur Ros, Peter Gabriel, K’s Choice) and will be released in early 2011.”

(Biography info obtained from the band’s facebook page)

Hollywood Tramp:

www.myspace.com/hollywoodtrampmusic

“Hollywood Tramp are four young musicians with a desire to create music that takes elements of the familiar and turn it into something new.  Now close friends, the band came together through mutual friends and a genuine love for music, forming in the Summer of 2009.  Hollywood Tramp draw influence’s from all spheres of music and that is reflected in the playing style of each member.  On lead vocals, rhythm guitar and piano/keyboards is Sean Colley. The front-man, founder member and chief songwriter.  Philip Swan plays lead guitarist and backing vocalist. Akin to Amadeus Mozart, Phil’s first gig was at the age of seven.  Steven Dent is Hollywood Tramp’s bass player extraordinaire. Steve often occupies a place next to Phil on backing vocals and is quite adept on the cello too.  Holding the whole operation together is Drummer/percussionist Rowan Cox, who’s drumming style has been forged by a heavy influence of Hip-Hop. Having picked up his first pair of drumsticks aged 9, he hasn’t looked back since.”

(Biography info obtained from the band’s facebook page)