High Hazels speak with an inherently northern voice, and reignite the gold spun lineage of teddy boys’ mordant
wit and winsome charm and we caught up with them in Sheffield to talk about Record Store Day and to play us a couple of acoustic sessions.
James Leesley
(vocals/guitar), Paul Barlow (bass guitar),
Scott Howes (guitar)
and Anthony Barlow (drums)
grew up in Handsworth, however this band of
brothers and childhood friends are too young for the battle hymns of nearby Orgreave, with their
rich melodies more attuned to the sweeps of pastoral
meadowland, and last kisses
snatched under nodding street lamps.
Quintessentially
Sheffield, their shimmering guitars awaken a sound
left in the shadow of Ewan MacColl's
factory wall, the empty milk bottle on Peter Noone's doorstep, and the rain logged gutters
of Morrissey's humdrum
town. Like Vic Brown
stalked the edge of a bleak estate in 'A Kind of Loving', and Billy Fisher skulked
home after missing a midnight train in 'Billy Liar', High Hazels embrace the boys of yesterday; a thrall of brigade
chic chiseled through vintage gear,
and stirring
a revival of bygone bliss.
For years, the only cultural shrine in Handsworth was the
Ballifield semi where Ken Patten recorded The Future and Pulp in his Studio
Electrophonique while his wife made the brews downstairs. A few streets over, a
new story gathers pace, guitars chime in back bedrooms and, in terminus bus
shelters, cold hearts start to thaw.
High Hazels released their self-titled debut album in
October 2014 on Heist or Hit Records. The album was recorded at Cottage Road
Studios in Leeds with producer Matt Peel (Pulled Apart By Horses, Eagulls), and
mastered by Robin Schmidt (The Coral, Jake Bugg), High Hazels’ debut record
dreams and radiates finesse over 10 tracks that make the transience of
wanderlust feel everlasting. To ignore a band this good would be to ignore the
calm before the storm.
This is 'French Rue'
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