Office Listening: Eagulls

It’s not often that a band takes you back to your five day lager binges at Leeds Festival as a long haired pissed off teenager - especially now that we’ve discovered the hedonistic charm that surrounds raves in abandoned warehouses - but one band that is doing just that at the moment is Eagulls - and we can’t get enough of them on our office stereo.

Coincidentally, the office was just where it all started for the Leeds based punk band, racked up in dead end 9-5 jobs busting to get their self titled album out there until lo and behold Partisan records snapped them up.  

This notion blatantly comes across in their heartfelt lyrics that address the dark struggles the band have encountered, blared out over a catchy post punk sound with tight ferocious melodies and thrusting bass lines that quite frankly are designed with the intention of telling the world to fuck off. 

And that’s just what they did when they published a letter online addressed to “All beach bands sucking each others dicks and rubbing press’ clits” that berated their ‘Mickey Mouse Disney character’ appearances, promoters hell bent on Facebook likes rather than good music and proclaimed that Gary Numan could knock all their dads out - which we found all too funny to be honest. 

Their self titled album Eagulls (stream above on Spotify) reflects these conveyed feelings, in sharp contrast to the aforementioned bands’ that feel the wrath of their ire. 'Opaque’ tells lead singer Mitchell’s experience of an arrested sexual predator who slipped through the net, matched by a thrashing melody that crashes with a shoegaze lament that harks back to classic Joy Division.  

'Tough Luck' takes on a more personal approach, documenting lead singer George Mitchell’s struggle with Thelidomide as a child with a gripping hook - “Tough Luck, Touch Wood” - drenched in a looser guitar sound.

Compare that to the likes of 'Hollow Visions' and 'Yellow Eyes', which both progressively evolve with a rip roaring effect laden guitar approach, the latter lamenting “There’s no doubt in my mind that the stories untrue, the whites of my eyes turned em yellow for proof”, accompanied by relentless percussion - which pretty much sums up the anger conveyed in the album. 

All in all, the Leeds band have an air of the 80’s punk counter culture about them, twinned with a fresh breathe of attitude that stands so rare in the modern music era which all stems from life’s obscenities. Taking all this on board it makes them a perfect for an intimate live venue which has seen them bag a slot on the Dr Martens standforsomethingtour. 

And quite obviously they're equally adept at causing damn right hell on earth in a festival tent with their rip-roaring quitar and percussion which will certainly be apparent at this years Latitude and, of course, Leeds and Reading. 

They'll also be live at Manchester's Sound Control in Saturday November 1st, which may be one of the last times to catch them in such an intimate confine. You can follow the link below for Eagulls tickets to that or head here for more listing details.

See all the Eagulls live dates here.

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