A well-scrubbed fierce panda press release
The Band: THE CROOKES
The Record: CHASING AFTER GHOSTS
The Formats: COMPACT DISC / DOWNLOAD
The Label: fierce panda
The Catalogue Number: NONG 67CD
The Release Date: MARCH 21ST 2010
The Tracklisting:
1.Godless Girl
2.Chorus Of Fools
3.Just Like Dreamers
4.Bright Young Things
5.The Crookes Laundry Murder, 1922
6.Youth
7.I Remember Moonlight
8.Bloodshot Days
9.Carnabetian Charm
10.By The Seine
11.City Of Lights

The Crookes consist of George Waite (vocals / bass), Alex Saunders (guitar), Daniel Hopewell (guitar) and Russell Bates (drums). They are four young hopefuls who found each other, bleary eyed and dancing alone, at Sheffield's legendary Fuzz Club. United initially by a mutual love of The Violent Femmes song 'Blister in the Sun', they formed the band there and then. They hoped their songs (not yet written) would one day inspire the giddy abandon they felt when listening to The Cure, Monochrome Set, The Shirelles, Elvis Presley and Aztec Camera that Thursday night in the Student's Union.

Chasing After Ghosts is The Crookes debut album. It follows hot on the heels of their Dreams Of Another Day EP, released on fierce panda in September 2010. Admirers of the independent work ethic may care to note that Chasing After Ghosts was delivered in its demo form entirety before the EP was even released. The full-length was subsequently recorded in Leeds in November with Matt Peel on a budget of thruppence and diet of literary passion and reasonably-priced red wine.

If the seven tracks on Dreams Another Day captured a young band striving to find their feet and untangling their new pop angles then Chasing After Ghosts sees The Crookes crack on with their own plans for bequiffed domination. Striving to avoid indieboy comparisons and to set their own melodic agenda their lovingly-created brisk twanging hoedowns (cf Chorus Of Fools and lead-off single Godless Girl, out on March 14th), are now augmented by the heroically bleak Youth and the frankly epic closer City Of Lights. Its the sound of a band rapidly growing up. In fact, its the very soundtrack to that maturing process, for as they say themselves, ?ìEvery song is concerned with the tension between a bleak reality and escapism through imagination. Specifically, its a testament of youth, with most of the songs addressing a sort of loneliness and angst that is particularly painful when you occupy that liminal position between childhood and adulthood.¬ù

Not for nothing did uberfan Steve Lamacq once describe The Crookes as ?ìthe kings of romance¬ù. Though all originally hailing from other cities, George, Alex, Daniel and Russell have found a spiritual home in Sheffield and on its dance floors, and whilst their musical roots lie in Spectors Wall of Sound, their tales are drawn from the stone walls of Yorkshire. The Crookes' mutual love of D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh and Alan Sillitoe inform their kitchen-sink tales of broken hearts and bloodied knees, which are set against a backdrop of 50s rock'nroll and 80s indie classicism.

Theyve done it the old-fashioned non-flashy way as well, have The Crookes: the A Colliers Wife 7¬ù on Too Pure here, the Bloodshot Days 7¬ù on Heist Or Hit there, a stack of touring everywhere else. In fact in 2010 alone band played over 150 gigs covering every pocket of the UK as well as several parts of Holland and Germany. There were five memorable shows in just four days at SXSW, Radio One sessions for Huw Stephens and Steve Lamacq, a live collaboration with Sheffields musical Godfather Richard Hawley on BBC 6music, rocking sets at Reading / Leeds Festival and much much more besides.

This searingly unfashionable commitment to hard work and playing live whenever possible has helped build a handsome fanbase ‚ united under the fanzine banner The Bright Young Things - who have always been on hand to provide warm food and a floor to sleep on. This support culminated in being voted number 24 in 6music's top 100 tracks of 2010. The Crookes found each other dancing alone. Its safe to say they wont be dancing alone at these shows here¬¶

MONDAY FEBRUARY 7TH LONDON BORDERLINE (HMV NEXT BIG THING SHOW)
TUESDAY MARCH 22ND GLASGOW KING TUTS
FRIDAY MARCH 25TH MANCHESTER FAC:251
SATURDAY MARCH 26TH BLACKBURN LIVE LOUNGE
SUNDAY MARCH 27TH NEWCASTLE CLUNY
MONDAY MARCH 28TH MIDDLESBROUGH WESTGARTH SOCIAL
WEDNESDAY MARCH 30TH BIRMINGHAM HMV INSTITUTE
THURSDAY MARCH 31ST CAMBRIDGE HAYMAKERS
FRIDAY APRIL 1ST BATH MOLES
SATURDAY APRIL 2ND READING SOUTH STREET
TUESDAY APRIL 5TH NOTTINGHAM BODEGA
WEDNESDAY APRIL 6TH BRISTOL LOUISIANA
THURSDAY APRIL 7TH LONDON SCALA (fierce panda birthday party)
FRIDAY APRIL 8TH COVENTRY KASBAH
SATURDAY APRIL 9TH STOKE SUGARMILL
SUNDAY APRIL 10TH LEICESTER LOCK 42
TUESDAY APRIL 12TH YORK FIBBERS
WEDNESDAY APRIL 13TH LEEDS NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS
THURSDAY APRIL 14TH LIVERPOOL THE MASQUE
FRIDAY APRIL 15TH HULL THE FRUIT
SATURDAY APRIL 16TH SHEFFIELD QUEENS SOCIAL
SATURDAY APRIL 23RD CREWE THE BOX

www.thecrookes.co.uk