Black Light Theatre


Local lads Jono How (vocals and guitar), Rob Hirst (lead guitar), Stef Majchrzak (bass), and Liverpudlian Leon Thomas (drums) met one intoxicated evening and, even while inebriated, knew they were perfect for each other. So on that notion they locked themselves away in a factory for a while and pushed their noses to the creative grindstone till Black Light Theatre transpired - a top notch ensemble who knock out tunes of the Indie/Rock persuasion.

Since crashing onto the Sheffield music scene with a barrage of gigs early this year, they have exploded the minds and ear-drums of many and, now, their moody lyrics, stadium-rock guitar and rhythms have secured the boys a place as one of the most popular bands in Sheffield.

Jono's fantastic vocals give BLT tunes an all round appeal, so it comes as no surprise that they have a large following, especially with the release of their debut double A-side single 1402 Valentine's Massacre/Piece Of Me. And that's not all folks, no! with their collection of songs spanning from slow, dark melancholia to out and out rock numbers they have nabbed the 23 slot on the Radio One Indie Chart.

On the success of their single release, Stef proudly declares: "It was like biting on a juicy bit of confidence. We know we are the best. It's just nice to know that other people concur. Number 23 in the Radio One Indie Chart is a bit of a surprise when you're two places below the Arctic Monkeys who probably had loads spent on promotion, airplay and cheap plugs. We had none of that. I guess it was about word of mouth. The next one's gonna be better."

With their obvious passion and zest for live performance, it's not unusual for these die-hard giggers to do more than one set in a night. "Playing live is the only reason 75% of this band are still alive, so we wanna be good at it. Life would be dormant without it," says Stef. And as their profile rapidly rises with streams of fans jumping on board, it seems super-stardom is beckoning… so now is the time to catch them at a local gig before they become too untouchable.

For forthcoming gig dates, check out their websites at www.myspace.com/blacklighttheatre or www.blacklighttheatre.co.uk

-Jayne Hurd, Myvilliage.com

Here are some digital links for Black Light Theatre – 1402 Valentine Massacre:


Napster:

http://sms.gb.napster.com/duet/general/handle_napster_link.h
tml?opcode=switch&tab=browseartists&artistid=12436898&albumid=1
2623538&class=album&artist_id=12436898&album_id=12623538&p  

HMV.Com:

http://www.hmvdigital.com/HMV.Digital.WebStore.Portal/Pages/
System/AlbumInfo.aspx?Comp..5751606

HMV:

http://hmvdigital.co.uk/HMV.Digital.OnlineStore.Portal/Pages
/Redirect.aspx?Url=http://hmvdigital.co.uk/HMV.Digital.Onlin
eStore.Portal/Pages/System/Results.aspx?SearchTerm=black%20light%2
0theatre

7 Digital:

http://www.7digital.com/artists/black-light-theatre/1402-val
entines-massacre/

TuneTribe:

http://www.tunetribe.com/Album?album_id=1122487

PlayLouder:

http://playlouder.com/downloads/release/~1402-valentines-mas
sacre-file-0/

Woohoo!!

Go buy and carry around on your IPOD!!

By Russell Barker

Another Australian band with a keen ear for a melody, College Fall serve up a delightful album based on the aforementioned eleven letters, sent between two lovers in the autumn of 2004. We can follow the lovers' trials and tribulations, ups and downs, perfectly soundtracked on this album.

'For What It's Worth' leads things off, a piece of classic pop, like early REM or the Go-Betweens. 'Gravity' is composed as if it's one big chorus, it's a massive pop tune which veers towards the cheesy at times, 'It's All Over' is a harder edged pop, sounding a bit like Sugar, then 'Six Or Seven' is the tender sad song, led by a female vocal.

In 'Like It Or Not' there's hope of redemption, 'This Direction' is like a melancholic Death Cab For Cutie and 'Back Down' is a grandstanding lyrical stand off. Most of all, there's enough hooks and melodies on this album to keep even the harshest cynic satisfied.

They say that Northern Rock is on its knees.

Blimey, tell that to Black Light Theatre, our fully fluffed up Bugbear Band of the Week this week.

Hailing from Sheffield, these Northern boys rock like a redneck's credit card on heat.

BLT also find themselves sharing an acronym with the nation's favourite sandwich. Although we understand that they prefer not to have brown sauce squeezed inside them, and are nowhere near as easy to pick up in Morrison's cold cabinet .

- The London Particular

..

Time Out
19-25 Sept 2007 

A feast of stinging feedback, droney, disembodied vocals and driving, mantric rhythms. Imagine if Creation hadn't bothered with signing Oasis. They'd be putting out records like this and still praying for a new My Bloody Valentine album.

Just a quick note to let all you cats know that we've started a new night......

'Us kids Know...'

EVERY FRIDAY AT RYANS BAR

Church Street
Stoke Newington
N16

The first night will be Friday 28th Sept with The Woodsmen and Owlls.....

The second night will be 5th Oct with Oli n Clive and Gold Sounds + Guests...

We require more Hooked Up - esque bands and people to come and DJ, get in touch if ya hear of anything....

See you there!!

HU xx

Every now and again amongst the thousands of mediocre bands dotted around Myspace you sometimes stumble across something looking genuinely exciting, unfortunately with speakers playing up on the old shadders laptop, look exciting is all it was! Fortunately a couple of emails later and Black Light Theatre's manager had agreed to send us a copy of the forthcoming debut single '1402 Valentines Massacre' (on indie 'Hooked Up' records) and without any problems a couple of days later it had duly arrived. There are a few choice quotes on the back of the promo single 'epic feedback laden rock n'roll' Time Out and 'A brilliant wall of sound and atmosphere which gives off the impression of Joy Division but with a harder edge' This City (Bristol). Sounds interesting we thought. In fact it took just one play to realise that Black Light Theatre were going to be as good as their rather excellent name suggests. '1402 Valentines massacre' has the atmosphere, guitars and rips along at a right old pace, like Editors on speed! B-side 'Piece of me' has a harder edge but is still a rip-snorting piece of indie rock. With the single in hand we buzzed some questions the short distance via the virtual super highway to buzzing Sheffield. Stef did the honours and the resulting interview is below. Black Light Theatre top name and even better music!

Q1, Who are Black Light Theatre?

Black light theatre are 4 piss heads that happen to be able to play instruments (Jono How on vocals and guitar, Rob Hirst on lead guitar, Stef Majchrzak on Bass and Leon 'Scouse' Thomas on the kit).

Q2, Black Light Theatre is a pretty cool name. Is it cause you like a bit of Chinese puppets, a homage to the great 'BLT' Dave Lee Travis or is there another more bizarre reason you picked it?

Rob the Guitarist went to Prague and visited the Black light Theatre. We was stuck for a band name so we just that easy.
Q3, Right now where would you say Black Light Theatre are at?
 
We are on the verge of great things with our first single coming out Oct 1st hopefully the press will take note, then the public will. Unfortunately it works like that.

Q4, What was the last CD / download you bought and was it any good?

I bought three Chris Isto White albums. Check him out, he is a genius.
 
Q5, What is you favourite Black Light Theatre song & why?

We don't have one, we spend many hours arguing like little bitches over what songs we are gonna play at gigs and also what to record. Each song is our favourite or they just get thrown in the blt bin.

Q6, If you had to pick a musical genre in which to pigeon hole yourself which one would you go for?
 
Loud messy indie.

Q7, How would you describe the Black Light Theatre live experience?

We are the best band in the world live. Everyone must see us! We even record live. None of this overdubbing bollocks. That's for girls and the Klaxons.

Q8, Which is your favourite Black Light Theatre gig thus far?

Probably Camden Barfly. We pissed all over the cockney bands, which made us smile long and hard.

Q9, What song by anyone other than yourself would you have most liked to have written and why?

White Christmas because wed all be filthy rich for doing fuck all.
 
Q10, You are just about to release your debut single on indie label 'Hooked up'; what's it called, what's it like and how did you come to release it on this label?

1402 Valentines Massacre was wrote on Valentines Day. The wags of the band give us lots of shit because we wasn't fulfilling a bullshit day by Clinton cards and balloon factories. So Jonno enlighten us to the real meaning of Valentines day. Hooked up was the first record label to make the effort to sunny Shef and see us play live, so we returned the favour, like I say we are the best live band in the world.

Q11, Why should somebody buy a copy of your single and not say a pint of lager?

They should buy both to be fair.
 
Q12, Do you prefer the Arctic Monkeys, Reverend and the Makers, Pulp, Human League or Joe Cocker?

Each band member would give a different answer to this question. For me it would be this order; Human League, Pulp, Reverend, Cocker and Monkees joint last.
 
Q13, Has Sheffield got a buzzing music scene at the moment or is it a load of media hype?

Yes. The buzz has always been there. It just took the media a while to cotton on.
 
Q14, Who are going to be the next big thing out of the steel city? (And you can say yourselves if you wish!)

Us. Everybody who has seen us knows it.

Q15, Is there a Black Light Theatre website, myspace or face book page and what can we find on them?(You can shameless plug the addresses if you wish!)

www.blacklighttheatre.co.uk, www.myspace.com/blacklighttheatre I'm not sure what the facebook one is but is on there somewhere.
 
Q16, In ten words write your own press release swearing is definitely allowed!)…

I hate this question. It's the Managers job. Just listen.

COLLEGE FALL'S DEBUT ALBUM, ELEVEN LETTERS AVAILABLE NOW!

You can but it from any HMV in the country and at many independents including Piccadilly Records (Manchester), Different Class (Plymouth), Powerplay (Eastbourne) and many more, just ask them to order it in if you can't find it!

In other College Fall news the new single ´Gravity´ is also available for exclusive download from these online retailers