Subba-Cultcha Competition!

Subba Cultcha are running a competition for you to win signed 'Watch and Play' blue coloured vinyl.

Head on over: http://www.subba-cultcha.com/comp_20070402_7.php 

PARIS PUNK TRIO RELEASE DEBUT SINGLE

They exude effortless cool.  Vogue will be tripping on their Prada bags in an effort to get out the way of songs like the pulsing shrieking ‘Hollywood Whore’ before they photograph them in gritty black and white.  - Disorder Magazine
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Black-hearted avant- punk that bristles with the sort of distorted guitars and whip-lashing climaxes that will have older indie fans fishing out their Sonic Youth Classics- The Metro

Coming from the same district that provided us with the sublime Air, Paris punk trio UNDERGROUND RAILROAD release their debut extended single ‘Watch And Play’, on One Little Indian on 2nd April.

Underground Railroad On The Radio

Underground Railroad were in the studio with Resonance FM over the weekend. Catch the interview - click here

Photos

Regular One Little Indian photographer Genneah Turner has a photo stream of Underground Railroad  to see more, click on the picture.

 

Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad are Raphael Mura, JB Ganivet and Marion Andrau.  Formed in 2003, JB and Marion had known each other since they were seven year-old neighbours, and formed their first band together in their early teens. They were to meet Raphael, the youngest of the trio and already with his own band, in shared rehearsal space in the town Montigny, south of Paris. A meeting of minds (and surplus members dispatched), Underground Railroad was born, with the set-up of Raphael on lead vocals and drums combined along with Marion on guitar and JB on bass with additional vocals from both.

In between college (Raphael), working in a booking agency (Marion) and, er, dossing about (JB), and influenced by Black Flag, Nirvana, Dead Kennedys, Velvet Underground, Stooges, Sonic Youth, Pavement amongst others, they recorded their first demo and began touring around Paris.  For the next two years they established themselves amongst the thriving Parisian rock scene alongside bands like Stuck In The Sound, Nelson and I Love UFO, collectively creating so much of a buzz it was documented by film director Kenji Chen recently, with the results due for a French cinematic release this year. 

In 2005, increasingly obsessed by the UK and US punk scenes, and under pressure locally to perform in French rather than their preferred English, Underground Railroad relocated to London, drawn to and driven by a scene that they could not find at home. Reaching the capital, in the spirit of rock’n’roll (and because they had no money), they moved into a one room flat in Whitechapel.  With the word spreading from Paris and with an album-worth of incredible songs, they instantly attracted the attention of several labels, signing to One Little Indian in October.       

December saw them return to Paris for a very special reason.  As testament to how driven Underground Railroad are, they recently tempted some of their idols to break from a European Tour to perform an impromptu gig for their fans in Paris.  Obsessed by Sonic Youth, they organized a gig for Lee Ranaldo (guitarist with SY), Two Dollar Guitar (with SY drummer Steve Shelley) and Awesome Colour (on Thurston Moore’s label) at a cool art venue in Paris, Le Point Ephemere.   It only took a year and a half of harassing their booking agent…!

In the meantime, with a ferocious live show of raw energy and infectious enthusiasm, the band are busy forging a loyal live following in the UK, having performed countless gigs in the capital, and having supported the likes of The Long Blondes, Tiger Force, Rubicks and The Mighty Roars. 

 

Tour Dates

March 24 2007 resonnance FM 2 30 to 3 30 pm / roquefort show
Apr 2 2007 acoustic@indo / east london
Apr 13 2007 Norwich Arts Centre Norwich
Apr 20 2007 the venue Newcross
Apr 22 2007 Luminaire London
May 1 2007 The Boiler room Guilford / ALBUM RELEASE TOUR
May 3 2007 The Cellar Oxford / ALBUM RELEASE TOUR
May 4 2007 St Martins college London
May 5 2007 the social TBC Nottingham
May 8 2007 Rocket Girl show / Resonance 104.4FM 8pm - 9pm London
May 9 2007 Basement Newport
May 11 2007 venue TBA Bristol / the Croft venue TBC
May 17 2007 basement york
May 18 2007 new found sound @ Bannermans Edinburgh
May 19 2007 Barfly Glasgow
Jun 15 2007 the prince albert brighton

One Little Indian / I-diot Collaboration Continues

Our collaboration with the folks at www.i-diot.co.uk the sonic / visual powerhouse of creative collaborations continues. idiot currently only work with artists on a one off digital download single basis - so we have agreed with the people at idiot to continue working with Monsta, The Mighty Roars, Underground Railroad.

All three bands have just completed full length studio albums -check out the idiot page for info on the first singles that introduced us to these incredible bands - and the OLI pages for news about the new developments on each band. idiot has some other amazing bands and a unique vision of attaching download music to badges and t-shirts - they celebrate extreme music by artists overlooked by the mainstream.

Underground Railroad provide a live show that sends you spinning. Politely devastating, they produce a storm of energy and anger, which demolishes everything in its way. The band cite their influences as The Velvet Underground, Radiohead, and The Cure, to name but a few, however these guys have carved out an emotionally unique sound.

They’re a gang of dirty, French mothers with a magnetism you can’t ignore. They met in the grey city of Paris in 2003 with a common aim; to gig and gig and then to gig some more. In the past two years they’ve played over one hundred shows all over the world. Invited to perform alongside Melt Banana in Japan and Ted Leo and The Pharmacist in the USA, the band have just about had time to set up home in London and send shockwaves of anticipation through the city’s gigging circuit. They continue to infiltrate the UK and Europe, executing tight live shows with a subtly which collides beautifully with their torrential sound.

Underground Railroad are Marion Andrau, J.B Ganivet, and Raphael Mura. The trio were approached by a number of record labels in 2006 but finally signed to One Little Indian Records, and we’re awfully glad they did. If you haven’t seen them live, then you haven’t seen anything yet.

The band’s debut single “Cookies and Milk” is out now on One Little Indian/Idiot and is available for digital download.