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ENGLAND ROAD
James Allen (drums), Toby Hornby-Patterson (bass), Steve Silk (lead guitar and vocals) and Kieran Hall guitar) formed a band in June 2011 called England Road at the young age of 13-16. All local lads from Bishops Waltham, Droxford and Wickham all originally from Swanmore College of Technology.
They had achieved big success in the 18 months that they were together. Their music style indie/rock, even described as mod/rock was compared to top bands such as Oasis, Artic Monkeys, Cream, Led Zeppelin to name a few, and was commented that they had music ability well beyond their years and were held in high regard by all bands that have played with them.
This website which has been running for a year has had over 19,000 hits and still regularly getting 30/40 hits a day since they split up which was at the end of December 2012 and the facebook page has 1080 likes so the boy's have obtained a large fan base.
There debut EP MEMORY LANE was out in January 2012 and had great reviews (look at review page). There second EP called SUBCONSCIOUS was recorded and due out in January 2013.
In December 2011 England Road became the youngest band in history to have their own headline night at the legendary venue "The Joiners Arms" in Southampton.
They have played many venues over the last 18 months, The Wedgewood Rooms, The Joiners Arms, Portsmouth Mod Fest, Tonic Music Festival, Victorious Vintage Festival with the likes of 'Dodgy', 'The Lightning Seeds' and many more, to celebrate the Queens Jubilee, The Brook, Southsea Bandstand, The Uprising Tour, The Cellars in Southsea, Hampshire Music Service Battle of the Bands where they were runners up, plus many many more..
They took part in the Live & Unsigned competition and sailed through the audition stage, regional finals and were voted in the top five out of 54 acts at the Area Finals at Portsmouth Guildhall. They were one of two acts chosen by a representative from Butserfest to perform in September 2012 on the main stage with great bands like 'Lower Than Atlantis', 'Kids In Glass Houses', 'Don Broco', 'Yashin' and many more.
This is the last review as a three piece (James, Toby & Steve) by MINTSOUTH when they supported the UK Subs at the Cellar in Southampton in December 2012.
Since their début EP, the other band, the horrendously named England Road, have lost a guitarist so are now a three-piece. With the 14-year old drummer centre-stage and a left-handed guitarist and right-handed bassist they look perfectly symmetrical on-stage with headstocks pointing east and west. At 16 and 17 respectively they have boyband looks and a sound that harks back to when Freakbeat Mod became Heavy Rock, or dare I say it Metal. I’m not an expert on that particular-era, even I’m too young, but it’s the sound of Cream, the Yardbirds or early Led Zeppelin (I guess) and when you’re not expecting it…it sounds amazing. The singer/guitarist is confident to the point of cocky but his voice barely sounds like it’s broken. His playing, and that of the bassist and drummer for that matter, is f......ing virtuoso. They are brilliant musicians but also have the necessary groove and feel to their playing. “This one is for all the punks” is how he introduced the slowest, most bluesy number, collapsing into giggles as someone had obviously dared him to say it. They went down a storm with the mixed crowd though simply because the sound was wide screen, funky and heavy, loud but full of space and just… great! They have masses of potential. The song lyrics maybe don’t bear close analysis and they need to write about their own lives not some fictional rock-cliché existence, but impressed I was!
Not long after this gig Steve announced to James & Toby that he was out. James and Toby were devastated but music will continue to play a big part in their lives. They understand that if you want something in life you have to work hard for it, that's how it works.
