The Band: DESPERATE JOURNALIST

The Release: 'ORGAN'

The Formats: DIGITAL SINGLE

The Release Date: NOVEMBER 11TH 2013

The Record Company: LABEL FANDANGO / FIERCE PANDA (cat no galagos 042)

The Truth: Desperate Journalist are two boys and two girls who live in North London. They consist of Jo Bevan (vocals), Simon Drowner (bass), Rob Hardy (guitar) and Caz Hellbent (drums). Lured together by fate and a fierce sense of what makes alternative music actually really bloody alternative they started their journey at the local Negative Creep grunge club night in Finsbury Park on February 23rd 2013 and have barely looked back since.

‘Organ’ is their second release and represents a rush and a (g)rumble of great big echo-laden post-punk drama and mild gothic hysteria. Given that they share traces of Savages' savvy melodic militancy, that when they made a video for their first summertime single ‘Cristina’ by the seaside at Margate it rained, and that bassist Simon is potentially a student at the Nicky Wire Charm School in downtown Walthamstow and you might well think that Desperate Journalist believe solely in the glower of love.

Yet beneath the deadpan panda-eyed exterior there is something fantastically old-fashioned and uncontrived about Desperate Journalist: there is joy to be found in Rob's sparkly 12-string guitar spikes, and live shows across London with Six By Seven, Throwing Up and at Hatcham Social’s Crocodile Club have showcased a band not afraid of giving their patented blend of melody and melodrama a great big live hug. Better still, in brilliantly post-modern fashion the Desperate Journalist name is lifted from a Peel Session track by The Cure which berated Paul Morley for an NME review of their album (fact fans may care to know that the song was ‘Grinding Halt’ which was pithily re-christened ‘Desperate Journalist In Ongoing Meaningful Review Situation’ for the occasion).

Predictably then, Desperate Journalist have already gone down stupidly well with ex-NME hack and fierce panda founder Simon Williams, while fellow real life ex-desperate journo Steve Lamacq played 'Cristina' on BBC 6 Music. Other laptop-tapping enthusiasts of the Desperate Journalist sound lurk at Artrocker (“Powerful, melodic and full of emotion.”), Time Out (“Shimmering post-punk.”) and The Girls We Are (“It’s not often that a set, in a small venue on a week night, ends too soon. Desperate Journalist is a rather beautiful thing.”)

Desperate Journalist hereby join the esteemed chorus of chaos which is the Label Fandango birthday subscription club, becoming the sixth of 12 digital singles casually handpicked and methodically released to celebrate 12 years of Club Fandango promotions. If you can't wait to hear it live get your pointy boots heading to these shows here:

OCTOBER 17th LONDON Manor House The Finsbury
NOVEMBER 5th LONDON Dalston Shacklewell Arms (with Department M)
NOVEMBER 9th LONDON Kings Cross Lexington (Paris Is Burning Club)
NOVEMBER 21st LONDON Highbury Garage Upstairs (with Terminal Gods)
DECEMBER 14TH BIRMINGHAM The Victoria

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