Switches 'Lay Down The Law' album

"Well, the idea was a band, but we're really a neurotic bunch of obsessive compulsive weirdo’s,” Switches singer Matt Bishop says. The neurotic obsessive-compulsive weirdo’s, pulled through impressively and way fantastically, and last February 12, 2008 Switches released their debut album, Lay Down The Law, produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) on Interscope.

Strangely, Switches, who now all live in London, came together naturally and easily. Matt grew up in Southend (a low-rent seaside town, something like the old Asbury Park neighbourhood) and formed the band while at college: he just sent a group email and chose the people whose responses he liked best. Even if they didn’t like the same music.

There’s Ollie Thomas, guitar: musical wunderkind aspiring to psychedelic-tinged virtuosity ala Hendrix, but also partial to some tough new wave in the Stranglers and Television. Thom Kirkpatrick, bass: belt and braces, biscuits and tea, Beatles and Ben Folds, he is particularly English, even for someone from Britain. Steve Godfrey, drums, drums and more drums: he personifies his instrument. He likes to drum, drums to live, learned Appetite For Destruction on pencils and saucepans so by the time he got his first kit he could play the record flawlessly.. And Matt: the seventies-leaning songwriter with a love for ELO and 10cc even though he wasn't born while they reigned, and a fully-fledged Child of Britpop.

The varying influences are a natural for Matt. In his teens he wrote hundreds of songs spanning from pop, disco, piano ballads, Beck-esque hip-hop, glam, punk, hardcore and emo. His stacks of homemade tapes were typhoons of conflicting styles. However styles, genres, bin cards and such hadn’t quite been established in pre-school – when Matt began playing at age three. At four he’s bringing his dad’s electric guitar to school (dad was a former BBC engineer), along with his own little Fisher Price recorder. Already Matt loved to multi-track and over-dub when he shouldn’t have even known the words. Oh did it make for some funny photos of the weird kid – guitar almost bigger than him!

“At that age I only knew, like, two chords so it was mainly Bolan rip-offs,” he says. “I had this kid tape recorder and my mum’s reel-to reel.”

While this didn’t make Matt a child prodigy, the music obsession obviously continued and therefore this story and the band. Originally called Matt Rock and the Others, almost immediately they won a Battle of the Bands contest. First prize was a support slot for The Darkness.

“We didn’t know who they were when we saw them backstage.” Matt says. “Max was asking ‘when are Status Quo on then?’”

The only way to go from a battle of the bands contest is, um, up, and the first up move was changing their name to Switches. The guys quit school and dedicated themselves to music that consumed them. They got compared to Weezer and The Vines a lot (Weezer for the music, The Vines for Matt’s unpredictable behaviour). Switches toured for a year before being signed.

“When my publisher first approached me he was like ‘I've heard five tracks – one of them sounds like The Bee Gees, one sounds like T Rex, one sounds like Fugazi...’” Nice!

Rather than head straight into the studio to record a disjointed mish-mash of an album, Switches hit the road again. The band was on a mission to solidify their sound and present a coherent musical front. They returned ready to record their debut ‘Message From Yuz EP’ for Degenerate Music – four tracks of handclappy glamstomparama that crystallizes the last decade of British pop excellence and stood as an introduction into Switches’ world: Starts like Elastica kung fu-kicking and winds up in a three-way rock-opera face-off between ELO, Kraftwerk and Ziggy Stardust.

They then released 'Lay Down The Law' which was immediately picked as track of the week by NME. Admired for it’s swagger, stomp and hooks galore – the song teases for the same named album to come.

And the songs just connect... Bishop’s voice alternately soars and stings, confidently owning you, and you want to be owned. Like swaying to Marc Bolan or snidely getting schooled by Deborah Harry, you are owned. Bishop captivates, corners, connects. Meanwhile the music is busy tricking and tripping with enthusiastic, irresistibly upbeat riffs. But the songs are swamped in the bitter sting of romance. Lyrics betray the music with an emotional deviance often delivering a smartly sour bite.

“The message is going to be of Love, but to be wary,” says Matt. “Love songs that aren’t quite happy endings... I really admire Ray Davies for writing songs that weren’t involving him; he was just watching...”

Matt continues, “Rock music is still alive and kicking...I really hope we can take it into new areas. At best in a genuine connection between band and listener. Creating music shouldn’t be a one-way street – empathy, creativity and passion are crucial to us eventually, hopefully, pushing boundaries.”

press quotes
"Switches justify their cockiness with talent, excelling in the feisty hooks and high-pitched oo-oo-oos that hark back to the glam era at its best. If you've hoped for a missing link between T. Rex and the Killers (and hoped the balance would tilt toward the former), swaggering salvation is at hand." – Entertainment Weekly

"In light of all the mild-mannered Coldplay knockoffs of the last few years, it's easy to forget that British rockers used to be cocky young things, happy to bang out shout-along choruses filled with drug references. Switches remember; their debut LP sounds as if it were written with soccer stadiums in mind, complete with chirpy harmonies and hooks..." - BLENDER

"'Drama Queen’ is a song that runs rings around The Vines and makes Supergrass look lethargic." - NME

"Combining foot-stomping drums and bass with tight vocals and sharp guitar riffs, Switches are as cocksure as their pop piers."- Spin

"The British indie rising stars have created another Brit Pop hit and are making confident future strides with their Switches Swagger." - Filter

"Tunes like “Drama Queen” and “Lay Down the Law” have enough hooks and sleaze-rock muscle to deserve to find their way to mainstream American rock radio." - Boston Herald

"Each track on the album comes spiked with near-intoxicating levels of classic Brit-pop and a gritty, working-class swagger only available on the blue-collar streets of London. And it's all lined up in a perfectly infectious 4/4 time, of course." - NYLON

"For Switches to get so much right so soon, they've either got a platter with one good song or chock-fucking-full of them. Since the former is more likely, your're gobsmacked when these impossible Frankenstein tunes - abit of T. Rex, The Cars, ELO, Blur, even Buzzcocks - keep coming in a relentless charge, a sequence plotted by God. " - HARP

who is who
Steve Godfrey
Matt Bishop
Ollie Thomas
Thom Kirkpatrick

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Tags

Details

Switches - Lay Down The Law