Cheery indie intellectual roustabouts THE CROOKES are sneaking out of their Sheffield bunker to for a wee Christmas tour. The fun-loving foursome, who have been exceedingly busy of late releasing the much admired Dreams Of Another Day EP on the panda, touring the UKs finest libraries and recording their debut full length album, will be playing the following towns: DECEMBER 1ST CAMBRIDGE Haymakers
DECEMBER 2ND READING South Street Arts Centre
DECEMBER 3RD BATH Moles Club
DECEMBER 6TH SUNDERLAND Independent
DECEMBER 7TH: HARROGATE Blues Bar
DECEMBER 8TH NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
DECEMBER 9TH WILVERHAMPTON Newhampton Arts Centre
DECEMBER 10TH DARLINGTON Inside Out
DECEMBER 11TH: LEEDS Nation Of Shopkeepers
DECEMBER 12TH HEBDEN BRIDGE The Hole In The Wall
DECEMBER 16TH LONDON Bull & Gate

The Dreams Of Another Day EP is currently available from all good shops, not least Bury St Edmunds HMV, and this is the press release what we wrote about it last month¦

Ahead of their long-awaited, full-length album Sheffields premier indie romantics The Crookes are set to release a 7-track EP. Titled Dreams Of Another Day, the EP ties together a handful of older songs from the bands past, many of which havent seen the light of day before and all of which are being put to rest here. Its a sweeping clean of the board before The Crookes set out to make their defining long-playing debut this autumn, a way to give these songs the space they deserve before the band sets off in pursuit of the new.

?ìThis collection of songs serves as a fitting eulogy for a stage that we have left behind,¬ù they say. ?ìTwo years ago we had no idea what we wanted to be or sound like ‚ we just wanted to play and impress our mates. That hasn't completely changed, but we hope that we're beginning to embrace something closely approximating a distinctive sound. Thats for the album though. For now, the EP is a celebration of our heady and shambolic youth¬¶ before we get serious and boring!¬ù

Fittingly, opening track Backstreet Lovers, the EPs lead single, is the first song the band ever wrote together. Its a jaunty piece of urchin pop that ‚ as this EP soon makes evident ‚ is really just one side of the Crookes creative brain. Listen to the plaintive cover of Richard Hawleys Born Under A Bad Sign, complete with winsome xylophone, or the heartbreaking More Blitz than Ritz, or even the multi-layered melodic skills of the terrific Two Drifters, for proof.

Despite having only been on the scene for a couple of years, The Crookes have built up a phenomenal back catalogue of songs. Having already released heartily acclaimed 7¬ù singles on Too Pure and Hit or Heist, as well as contributing a track to fierce pandas Zip It Up compilation EP, their bountiful output meant picking just seven tracks for inclusion here was a tricky choice. ?ìIt really took a long time for us to decide,¬ù they say. ?ìOnce we had come up with the concept there were arguments about not only which tracks to put on the EP but also which version. It was both a pleasantly nostalgic and heartbreaking experience ‚ to revisit the stories and themes and characters of another time inevitably floods you with a wealth of emotion. It puts you in a forgotten place and reintroduces you to the people they were written about.¬ù

Comprising George Waite (bass/vocals), Alex Saunders (lead guitar), Daniel Hopewell (rhythm guitar) and Russell Bates (drums), The Crookes met and formed at Sheffield University, where they studied literature - an obvious influence on their songwriting. Inspired by the scene that birthed Richard Hawley, The Long Blondes, Arctic Monkeys and Reverend And The Makers, they named themselves after the area of the Sheffield in which they all lived. ?ìIt was always meant to be a stop-gap name but it just kind of stuck,¬ù they say. ?ìWhenever we leave Sheffield we're always being asked why we've spelled crooks wrong...¬ù

www.myspace.com/thecrookesmusic