The Contrast

New Album Title

Marc A. Price — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Exciting news has escaped from The Contrast’s camp. The new album that the band recorded recently in Leeds under the working title of “Good Luck Charms & Fast Cars” has been given an official title. The design of artwork for the album is underway and preliminary designs are expected next week (unlikely to be seen here for a while unfortunately).

However, as of this week the recording is officially titled “The God of Malfunction”. This is hardly surprising as that track is one of the stand-out tracks contained on the record. No news yet on when it will be released. I’ll keep you posted.

New Photos from Liverpool IPO

Marc A. Price — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:06:40 +0000

I have just posted a bunch of photos taken at The Contrast’s two shows at this year’s Liverpool International Pop Overthrow. It looks like it was a whole lot of fun (that I missed).

If you want to check them out they can be found at http://thecontrast.net/photo-gallery/ or grouped together under the tag Liverpool IPO 2009

The Contrast New Album Recording

Marc A. Price — Wed, 06 May 2009 06:58:15 +0000

David Goes a Bit Mad

So I’m guessing that you think it is all a bit too quiet on thecontrast.net. The band has been locked away somewhere in Leeds working hard on their follow-up album to “Underground Ghosts”. It seems things are going well.

Recording has been completed on The Contrast’s sixth studio album. A total of 15 songs have emerged, it is not yet known if all of these will make the final cut. I would say that they are going to have a hard time picking and choosing from this bunch. Now the work commences with picking a running order and designing art and so on. No release date is set yet but I will keep you posted and pass that on as soon as we know.

While they were in the studio the band took some photos of their experience. From these you can gain an insight into the really hard slog that is involved in making a new album. See the picture in this post for an example. These are posted in the Photo Gallery on this site.

The Contrast play May Day Festival

Marc A. Price — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:23:44 +0000

The Contrast have announced another live date for 2009. As soon as they come out of the studio after recording their 6th album (first for Wicked Cool) they will play a May Day festival on home turf. Details are below:

Peterborough Trades Union Council May Day Festival 2009

Radius, Northminster, Peterborough
http://www.bizwiki.co.uk/night-clubs/411603/radius.htm

The Contrast will be supported by

Pet Slimmers of The Year
Punky Rebel Media

(First band on at 8.30pm - Admission FREE)

New Album News

Marc A. Price — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:55:39 +0000

The Contrast are taking a break from recording this week and most of next but will be back in the studio on April 9th and will remain there for most of April. Early reports coming frome the camp are very positive. The band have reportedly managed to get a “wicked huge drum sound” for this project. This is all really good news, more as I get it.

The working title for the album is “Good Luck Charms & Fast Cars” and as yet no release date is scheduled, when it is you will also hear that news here. A demo version of “Better Than They Seem”, a track from the new album, was released on the Wicked Cool, South by Southwest sampler released in March.

Liverpool International Pop Overthrow 2009

Marc A. Price — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:10:09 +0000

International Pop Overthrow

The schedule for the 2009 International Pop Overthrow Festival in Liverpool has been released and I can confirm that The Contrast will be playing 2 shows as usual. International Pop Overthrow (or IPO, as it has affectionately become known) is a pop music festival which has been held for the past eleven years in Los Angeles. The IPO has also been held for various years in Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto, as well as in Liverpool, England (at the world famous Cavern Club).

The dates, places and times of The Contrast shows are below:

Friday May 22 @ The Cavern Pub (on stage 10pm)

Friday May 22 @ The Cavern Club - back stage (on stage 1.30am)

The link to the full schedule of cool acts that you can see at the Liverpool IPO can be found here http://www.internationalpopoverthrow.com/schedule-Liverpool-2009.htm. The IPO website can always be found at http://www.internationalpopoverthrow.com if you want to check to see if there is an IPO near you.

New Album - Track Preview

Marc A. Price — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:56:11 +0000

Wicked Cool

The Contrast have not yet gone in to the studio to start recording their new album yet but one track will be coming our way sooner rather than later. Wicked Cool Records are living up to their name and releasing a demo version of one of the tracks from the new album. The track “Better Than They Seem” from the tentatively titled, forthcoming “Good Luck Charms and Fast Cars” will feature on a special Wicked Cool, South by Southwest (SXSW) sampler. It is a storming track featuring a much bigger sound than we have heard from The Contrast in the past. The new album is shaping up to be the best yet. I know I say that for every release, but am I ever wrong?

Unfortunately, The Contrast will not be playing at this year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas they will be far too busy working on the new album. However, once they are out of the studio we can expect them to start playing more shows in preparation for the promotion of their first proper release for Wicked Cool.

The Contrast Begin New Album

Marc A. Price — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:03:29 +0000

Wicked Cool

On March 19th The Contrast begin recording their 6th original full length album (if you don’t count Perfect Disguise, which was a compilation album). The recording of the bands first original album for Little Steven’s Wicked Cool Records is to take place at Cottage Road Studios in Leeds. Once again, the mixing desk duties will be dealt with by long time producer and collaborator Andy Hawkins.

The recording of the album, which has a working title of “Good Luck Charms & Fast Cars” is likely to continue until the end of April. There is no news as yet as to when it will be released. However, the rumour is that there will be some new material sneaking its way out before the album see the light of day. I’ll keep you informed of any news as and when I get it.

The Contrast play the Cellar Bar

Marc A. Price — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:04:46 +0000

The Contrast play a local gig on the 20th February 2009 at the Cellar Bar at the Thorpe Lodge Hotel.

Details are a little bit sparse at the moment but more information will be forthcoming soon.

Thorpe Lodge Hotel can be found on the map below.

View Larger Map
More details to follow.

Perfect Disguise in top ten albums of 2008 list

Marc A. Price — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:43:51 +0000

Perfect Disguise

Happy New Year!

The excellent Paisley Umbrella blog on MySpace has included Perfect Disguise as one of its top ten albums of 2008. Inexplicably they/he/she still seem to think that The Contrast are from Middlesborough but that it a minor detail. The blog originally reviewed the album back in February 2008 and gave it a suitably glowing review. It is really nice when webites pick up on stuff and promote it off their own back. It shows that the material is getting over to the audience and the resultant fans are working to spread the word.

Here is what Paisley Umbrella had to say:

Middleborough’s The Contrast occupy their own space. It’s hard to say what they sound like. One hears traces of early REM, Tom Petty, and Paul Weller with their six-string Rickenbacker sound which is so central to the music, but the song timing is odd at times (especially evident on previous releases like Forget To Tell The Time, the song structures different, and on top of that, it’s highly polished powerpop. The result is that The Contrast are incredibly distinctive and don’t really “sound” like anyone else, but the music remains catchy and accessible. The Contrast is well off the beaten path.

Paisley Umbrella blog’s top ten albums of 2008…

I’d like to extend my thanks on behalf of The Contrast to all of you out there that have worked hard on supporting the band in 2008 whether you are a member of Wicked Cool staff, an enthusiastic fan, or someone that just loved the tracks that you heard and had to purchase them. 2008 was another good year and 2009 is already shaping up to be a cracker. Keep the faith and keep letting everyone know about the best band in the world (and England too).