30/05/07
Fanfarlo Single out June 11th!
Fire Escape/We Live by the Lake will be in shops on the
11th. Pre-Order from the 1st June in the shop! Check White Heat
records or Fanfarlo Myspace for a listen!
Fanfarlo Launch Party June 5th!
Tuesday night at Madame JoJo's. Just click the club link
on the left to get all the details. Support from the Wonderful Esiotrot
and 'A Classic Education' are over from Italy! Tickets only
a fiver! Esiotrot have a Radio 1 session coming up so check that
out if you've not heard them yet.
Vile Imbeciles Album 'Ma' Available from 5th June
Again Pre-order in the shop or it shoujld be available
from 'All Good Record Shops' Check back forlots of lovely VI press.
Vile Imbeciles Album Launch at Old Blue Last on June 6th
Those lovely guys at Playlouder are putting this on. Supports including
'Popular Workshop' and one of the post Headless projects 'Cuckoos
Nest'.
02/04/07
New Releases Announced:
Fanfarlo Single
Shimmy Rivers and and Canal Single
ddd Single
26/02/07
Les Incompetents Album Reviews coming in...
New Musical Express:
Posthumous, skewered pop brilliance
With a shambles of an introduction, delivered somewhat bizarrely
by David Walliams, 'End Of An Error' starts as it means to go on
- as a riotous mess peppered with moments of brilliance. This post-split
compilation showcases Les Incompetents' twin obsessions of early
'90s children's TV and going out and losing your mind. They mixed
the gang mentality of Madness with a sound not dissimilar to Talking
Heads, had they been left out in the rain and savaged by a dog.
The bouncy sixth-form pop of 'Reunion', the stupid ska of 'How It
All Went Wrong', hell, even their cover of Thin Lizzy's 'Whiskey
In The Jar' which segues into a number from Bugsy Malone, are all
sparkling diamonds in the mine of insanity that the group plundered.
They may be gone, but make sure these nutters are not forgotten.
7/10
www.roughtrade.com:
posthumous cd only album from les incompetents amazingly totalling
15 tracks including the white heat singles, demos, an xfm session
and even an introduction from david walliams! les incompetents over
their short career became underground legends and they dealt in
ramshackle scuzz-pop. first single 'reunion' took the libertines
down an almost country path whilst the flip 'much too much' was
a chaotic and messy version of orange juice. second single 'how
it all went wrong' sounded like a mix of dexy's midnight runners,
an obscure early 80's indie diy 7" and indie kids trying to
do two tone. a fantastic and much needed round up of a band in 10
years time will be hailed as long lost and seminal
www.contactmusic.com:
Once upon a time a group of lads decided to enter their school's
battle-of-the-bands competition. Only problem was, they didn't have
a band.and so Les Incompetents were born!
Sadly, just two years and two singles later, and after a traumatic
six months including the near death of one of the band members,
it was all over.
Often ridiculed and lambasted for being "overtly posh"
and "musically incompetent", Les Incompetents were one
of those bands that actually managed to combine excitement, enthusiasm
and a sense of adventure with a plethora of cracking tunes that
produced several moments of near-genius, and in a world so po-faced
as the one surrounding the music business, felt like a breath of
fresh air.
'End Of An Error' documents their career, and anyone who got the
chance to see them live will recognise everything on here almost
immediately. You see, that was one of the great things about Les
Incompetents - love 'em or hate 'em, once heard, you never forgot
'em.
Based around the (mostly) improvised vocal interplay of duel singers
Freddie Bang! (nee MacPherson) and Billy Bell (aka Leeson), Les
Incompetents also managed to get through more drummers than Spinal
Tap in their short history but still managed to unleash one of the
most imaginative and criminally overlooked single releases of 2006,
the gorgeously frantic 'How It All Went Wrong', which apart from
sounding like a gunfight between the Pogues, Orange Juice and The
Coral on Hampstead Heath, also fittingly became their epitaph.
Other highlights include the 90 second long opener 'Ramshackle
Riot Show', (preceded by a spoken word intro from one David Walliams
here), the Franz Ferdinand after two many uppers 'Reunion' and also
the Fisher Price techno of 'Chapter Two', which has a certain behind-the-bikesheds-at-lunchtime
charm about it that no one since Pop Will Eat Itself nearly two
decades ago has managed to achieve so admirably (and cheekily) since.
Elsewhere there is an interview with John Kennedy for XFM which
naturally turns into a shambolic outburst of four-letter tinged
mayhem, while their cover of 'Whiskey In The Jar' sounds truer to
its Irish folksong origins than the Thin Lizzy version that most
people associate with the song.
But that, of course, was the whole point of Les Incompetents: Predictably
unpredictable and all the more lovable for it.
Gone, but definitely not forgotten.
9/10
www.musicomh.com:
Reviewing bands posthumously seems a little pointless at times,
particularly when the band in question hardly changed the face of
music as we know it. Who knows though, in a few years we might look
back and class Les Incompetents as being one of the most important
bands of the decade. It's fairly improbable though.
Two years of Les Incompetents (that's Les as in Dawson incidentally)
yielded a few singles, and some interesting gigs, but failed to
create much of a ripple. Indeed it's only since their split that
they've started to make headlines. Vocalist Frederick Bang is currently
hanging off the arm of Peaches Geldof, whilst vocalist number two,
Billy Leeson, recently ended up in a coma after an altercation with
a former Green Party candidate.
It's a shame that they never made a huge impression, because a
cursory trip through End of An Error shows a band that was far from
incompetent. Their songs were a fusion of punk, folk, and pop that
glinted with a knowing schizoid wit.
Escapades swings randomly through time changes and a chanted dual
vocal that is triggers off the pleasure zones in the inner ear within
seconds. It's the exact kind of song that Larrikin Love churn out
with seeming ease and are roundly applauded for.
Costa Rica is a rampant charge led by the dual vocals of Bang and
Leeson which changes shape so often it's almost hard to get a grasp
on exactly what's going on. It must be said it's perhaps the dual
vocals that set the band apart from other 'Thamesbeat' bands. At
times the idea makes perfect sense, and at others their approach
is so infuriating that you want to become a Green Party candidate.
Humour and music often make uncomfortable bedfellows (remember
The Sultans of Ping?) and the sound of someone who sounds like Brian
Blessed really overacting bellowing over the course of 10 songs
can get a little wearing. That's bad enough, but the exorable Stupid
Rap that closes the album is almost enough to persuade even the
most level headed person that purchasing a sniper rifle and hunting
the band down before they reform might not be such a bad idea.
Perhaps the most telling thing about this album is the interview
from XFM that has been included at the end of the collection. It
constantly references the band's live performance and highlights
the fact that they were a great live band. Looking back across the
songs included here, it would not be unfair to suggest that whilst
we may not have lost a great singles band, we have lost a band that
were undoubtedly capable of putting on hugely enjoyable live shows.
3/5
www.gigwise.com:
You can't help but like this ramshackle riot of a band. Even thought
they're all middle class posh boys with one, Frederick Bang, now
more famed for being Peaches Geldof's party-partner-come-boyfriend-whatever.
Most bands would pay big bucks for that kind of free tabloid promotion…God
bless celebrity. And this album leans even further towards the z-list
with an opening speech come rant off about the band from no other
than, drum roll please, David Walliams. Yes. Really.
But once you look past the stains of celebsville it's pretty easy
to see this London lot had something pretty unique going on –
with "had" being the operative word. As Les Inc are no
more. Kaput. Game over. Cynics may see this release as just another
way for those ever money grabbing labels to grab, well, more money
off the fans.
But what about the music? Well Fredrick Bang's deep as a canyon
voice certainly makes for one off listening. Add to this a circus
like freak show camaraderie of dual vocalists, unabrashed geetars
and an am-I-playing-in-time-to-this-song-or-the-one-in-my-head drummer
you sure as hell aren't going to be bored.
And the lyrics? They're about modern metropolitan life –
plain and simple. Binge drinking, indie discos, girls and party-ing.
'How It All Went Wrong' is a blurry vision of a night out on the
tiles drinking "bra-a-a-ndy", as they put it. 'Much Too
Much' is the story of the day after – lost mind, belongings
and waking up in God knows where. We've all been there right? Add
to that a cover of Thin Lizzy's 'Whisky In A Jar' which, albeit
weak, is still a pretty good repress and you've got a party in an
instant album. Just skip the triplet of interviews with John Kennedy
unless you're a super fan – albums were made for music not
talking…
4/5
Alexander Upcraft:
My esteemed secondary school buddies, having known turbulent times
within their band's short but eminently successful London gig circuit,
have finally (though posthumously) released an album, and although
I don't know the finished sound, I give it a fantabulous two-thumbs
fresh in great anticipation!
5/5
www.national-student.co.uk:
They came, they excited everybody and then the went without releasing
a proper full-album. The End of an Error is a collection the bands
materia. This band should have been huge, but called it a day instead.
9/10/06 - ddd single out today!
Check what people have been saying about it here: blog.myspace.com/...
In the meantime you can get a copy from Pure Groove, or either Rough
Trade Shop.
9/10/06 - Comanechi/Time out Today!
Time are Trencher's Mark and Liam with their doom side project.
Comanechi you know...
9/10/06 - Comanechi tour with the Gossip
Here's the tour dates and the [rather lovely] poster.
29-Oct uk Liverpool Evol Club @ Academy 2
31-Oct uk Glasgow Oran Mor
01-Nov uk Leeds Club NME @ Faversham
02-Nov uk Birmingham Barfly
04-Nov uk Manchester Roadhouse
05-Nov uk Brighton Concorde 2
06-Nov uk Sheffield Plug
11-Nov UK Brighton Centre
12-Nov UK Nottingham Arena
13-Nov UK Birmingham NIA
2/10/06 - Headless / Untitled Musical Project/ The Low Miffs
All three are releasing singles with White Heat in the next few
months. Keep your eyes open for release dates.
Headless - Stampede/Suffer
Untitled Musical Project - Facsimile/Beards and Drugs/Paul McCartney
The Low Miffs - Also Sprach Shareholder/Where are your songs now
26/9/06 - Trencher to release debut album!
The Launch Party is with our friends Toy Pirate at the Old Blue
Last in Shoreditch. As it says below.
TRENCHER Album Launch Party @ Toy Pirates, Old Blue Last, London
on 25-Oct
The album is out through Southern sometime around then. Trencher
are Britains finest purveyors of Casio Doom-Core and responsible
for the strangest of the White Heat singles to date. Check the shop
to find out why.
12/9/06 - Comanechi to release next single with White Heat.
New Single 'My Pussy' will be out sometime October/November on White
Heat. Following on from their new split release with trencher, My
Pussy will include a book written and illustrated by Akiko. Limited
to 500 copies.
01/08/06 - Les Incompetents break up!
Sad news fromt the Les Inc camp, especially after all the 'excitemen't
over the summe. Apparently the decision was made, mutually, before
that famous incident on the 29 bus. Good news is that Billy is getting
better fast and there'll be a farewell gig... Keep your eyes open
for one last [limited] release on White Heat Records...
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