Deaf Havana

Deaf Havana
Birmingham 02 Academy 2 - April 2012
Background information
Origin	Hunstanton and King's Lynn, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Genres	Alternative rock
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Wolf at Your Door Records, BMG, Razor & Tie
Website	Official Website
Members	James Veck-Gilodi Lee Wilson Tom Ogden Chris Pennells Matthew Veck-Gilodi Max Britton
Past members	Ryan Mellor Sebastian Splitz

Deaf Havana are an English alternative rock band from Hunstanton and King's Lynn in the English county of Norfolk. The band was formed in 2005 at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia.

Biography

Early Days (2005-2008)

Deaf Havana was formed when the original members met at the King's Lynn campus of The College of West Anglia. The band's roots can, however, be traced back much further with Ryan Mellor, James Veck-Gilodi and Lee Wilson all attending Smithdon High School and playing together in various local scene bands. At college, these members were joined by Tom Ogden and Sebastian Spitz. This early lineup saw Veck-Gilodi singing and Mellor taking guitar and vocal duties. The name "Deaf Havana" came from former guitarist Sebastian Spitz, however the name itself has no literal meaning.^[1]

The band wrote songs and a demo, White Lines But No Camera, was recorded in August 2006 at The Lodge, Northampton. The band toured this lineup until Pennells' replacing Spitz. Pennells was formerly a member of the band "Something About Dave". Around the same time, Mellor handed over guitar parts to Veck-Gilodi, and took on the lead role.

In late 2006, the band began writing songs for their debut EP, entitled "Evangeline". Two songs were roughly recorded, titled "The Smiles Were Forced" and "Where It Begins", which were uploaded on to the band's Myspace page. The EP was soon recorded, with "The Smiles Were Forced" being dropped from the EP's tracklisting, but seeing the light of day at the beginning of 2007. Its artwork is by Josh Brown who later had a song dedicated to him by the band called "Josh Brown, Don't Talk to Strangers", which was actually an early demo for the song "They Call It the Easy Life", featured on "It's Called the Easy Life". "For Stories Sake" was previously featured on the band's debut digital EP "White Lines But No Camera" with the slightly altered title "For the Stories Sake", and "Tell Me More Georgie Boy" is the only song from any previous release to make it onto Meet Me Halfway, At Least, and is now called "Another Day in This House".

Wolf at Your Door Records (2008-2010)

It's Called the Easy Life

Beginning in October 2007, the band began work on new songs, which eventually saw the light of day on this release. On 21 June 2008, the band announced signing a deal consisting of one EP and two albums with Wolf at Your Door Records, as well as the recording date for said debut EP, now titled It's Called the Easy Life. The EP was eventually recorded by Jonny Renshaw from Devil Sold His Soul and was mixed by Matt O'Grady (You Me at Six, Architects) and released in October 2008. The EP received strong reviews from various musical publications, following which the band begin to receive some recognition.^[2][3] January 2009 saw the band complete a UK wide tour with We Are the Ocean and The Urgency,^[4] and the release for their first music video, "Oh Howard, You Crack Me Up".^[5]

Meet Me Halfway, At Least

On 25 May 2009 the band entered the studio to record their debut studio album, Meet Me Halfway, At Least with producer Matt O'Grady. The album was released for pre-order from Wolf at Your Door Records on 7 September and was released on iTunes and shops on 5 October.

There have so far been two singles taken from this album. "Friends Like These" was released, with B-side "Hey Baby, This Is Our Song", on 17 August 2009 for digital download. A video was also released for this single. Their second single, "Nicotine and Alcohol Saved My Life", was released on 15 March 2010, also via digital download. The single contains a remix of "Friends Like These" by Essex band Kenai. Its music video was first shown on music channels and online from 22 February 2010.

Before the release of the album, Deaf Havana embarked on the UK "Metal Hammer Introducing" Tour along with Young Guns and The Casino Brawl. A week after the final date for this tour, Deaf Havana played an album release party show in hometown King's Lynn, with support from Underline the Sky and All Forgotten.

2010 saw the band on several tours across the UK and Europe, including a headlining UK mini tour with All Forgotten and Francesqa in March, a European tour with Emery from March through to April, as well as a support slot on Emarosa's UK tour in May. Just prior to the mini tour with All Forgotten, the band announced that Mellor would not be embarking on these tours with them due to personal circumstances, with Max d'Albiac from Brides replacing him.

Mellor left the band on 10 May 2010 due to the same personal problems that caused him to pull out of 2010 tours.^[6] Deaf Havana decided to continue as a four piece and a replacement for Mellor was not sought.

BMG (2011-present)

Fools and Worthless Liars

The band began the follow-up to 2009's Meet Me Halfway, At Least in early 2010. They released a new demo track on Myspace and Facebook, entitled "My Life Is Average". On 29 May and 30 May 2010, Deaf Havana played on the Kerrang! Introducing Stage at the Slam Dunk Festival at University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield and University of Leeds, respectively. At these shows, the band opened with an untitled new song. On 13 August 2010 the band released a new demo track through their Facebook page entitled "Home Sweet Home".

The band supported You Me at Six, along with Kids in Glass Houses and The Blackout, for a Halloween special at The Regal in Oxford.

The band played two new songs on their headline tour in the UK, titled "Pop" and "I Will Try", and also announced that they had been recording for their new album but have "no idea" when it is to be released, although a 2011 release was said to be likely. At the band's 17 December show at the Liverpool Masque Loft a new song was played, tentatively named "Down Syndrome Pigs". They also played 3 songs at Maida Vale Studios, 2 of which are bore the names: "Pop" & "I Will Try". Live videos of many of these new songs, including "Vines" and "Youth in Retrospect", appeared on various media sites. Previously released material such as "The World or Nothing", "I'm A Bore, Mostly", "Home, Sweet Home", "My Life is Average" and "Smiles All Around" were also recorded live by fans, although the latter three did not feature on Fools and Worthless Liars.

The band confirmed via Twitter on 19 February 2011 that the recording of their second full length was under way and that the album was being recorded with producer/engineer Matt O'Grady (You Me At Six, ex of Fastlane)^[7] in Woking, Surrey. Recording was completed in late summer 2011.

On 20 May 2011, the band released the first song, called "The World or Nothing", from their untitled second album. The song was not released as a single, but the song is accompanied by a video made from footage taken at Hit The Deck Festival, directed by Jon Stone. The first single from the album was confirmed to be "I'm A Bore, Mostly" on 30 August 2011. It was played on BBC Radio 1 by Zane Lowe and the following week by Sara Cox. The title of the album, Fools and Worthless Liars was made public on 23 September 2011. Deaf Havana also released a music video for the single on 11 October 2011, which accumulated over 20,000 plays on the day of release. They then supported fellow British rockers You Me At Six on tour that month.

Fools and Worthless Liars was released on 7 November 2011,^[8] coinciding with London Barfly and Norwich Arts Centre release gigs. The album peaked at No. 1 on the UK Rock Album Chart.^[9] In late November and early December the band toured Europe as direct support to Skindred before returning to the UK to support Architects on their tour through mid December. The band performed their own UK headline tour through April 2012, with support from The Swellers and The Dangerous Summer. They are due to perform another headline tour in November 2012, with support from Canterbury (band) and There For Tomorrow.

The band re-recorded an alternative version of "Fools and Worthless Liars" which was released on 22 October 2012. The "Fools and Worthless Liars Deluxe Edition" album reached #51 in the Official Album Charts (#28 mid-week). Lead singer, James-Veck Gilodi, expressed his views about his personal influences in the recent 'Fools and Worthless Liars Deluxe Documentary' saying that he "wanted to do something that was more musical interesting" and record something that was "truer" to the bands actual influences. After playing the 'St Pancras Station Festival', from which the band thought "went well" and was "thoroughly enjoyable", the band set about re-recording each song on Fools and Worthless Liars hoping to show off their musicianship that may not have come across on the album by using different instruments, sounds and genres. Since recording the re-release, the band have expressed hopes to tour the new songs either on a completely separate tour or on their headline November 2012 tour.

Old Souls

Deaf Havana began composing new material to be featured on their third albumin October 2012. On 25 January 2013 the band announced that the writing process was complete and that they'd enter the studio a week later. It was rumored, during the highly successful 'An Evening With Deaf Havana - Unplugged' that the new, yet currently unnamed, album would be released "around September". However, no precise date was set or confirmed at this point. It was later revealed in 2012 that the new album would entitled 'Old Souls' and was expected to be released on 16 September 2013. Moreover, the band have created a feature length documentary, entitled "English Hearts", which will be released as a CD/DVD combination on the deluxe version of 'Old Souls'. The documentary is set to chart the history of the band, in their own words, and was directed by Jon Stone, a director who had previously filmed the band performing 'The World or Nothing' at Hit the Deck Festival.

The band received several high profile radio plays in the lead up to the album release whilst the band also aired several previews through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Firstly,the song 'Boston Square' was premiered by Radio One DJ Zane Lowe as his "Hottest Record in the World" on 14 May 2013. This release which was accompanied with an interview with James Veck-Gilodi. The band coincidentally announced their first partnership with YouTube music video service VEVO, and released the corresponding video for 'Boston Square'. The band followed up the positive feedback by releasing the track 'Speeding Cars' on 18 July 2013, and track which also received positive feedback. On 1 August 2013 the band released another track, entitled 'Kings Road Ghost', despite the band acknowledging "they might get into trouble" for releasing the track early. On 8 August 2013 the band were again invited Zane Lowe's Radio One show to premier their new single 'Mildred' as the 'Hottest Record in the World'. Matt Veck-Gilodi supplied the interview on the behalf of the band and was interviewed by Radio One DJ Huw Stephens, who was deputizing for Zane Lowe.

Throughout this period the band continued to perform live and were reward for recent success with place supporting Bruce Springsteen at the annual Hard Rock Calling festival and Muse on the German part of their tour. They were also invited to play on the NME/BBC Radio 1 stage at the 2013 Reading and Leeds Festivals. On an individual level the band announced their biggest ever headline tour to take place at eight locations across the UK in October 2013 finishing at The Roundhouse in London. It was announced that on their UK tour the band will be supported by singer/songwriter Charlie Simpson and Big Sixes, who supported them on their 'An Evening with Deaf Havana - Unplugged' tour. Old Souls will be released in the US on 21 January 2014.

Discography

Band members

Current

• James Veck-Gilodi – rhythm guitar, lead vocals (2005–present)
• Chris Pennells - lead guitar (2006–present)
• Lee Wilson - bass guitar (2005–present)
• Tom Ogden - drums, percussion, backing vocals (2005–present)
• Matthew Veck-Gilodi - rhythm guitar, backing vocals (touring 2012; 2013–present)
• Max Britton - keyboards, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion (touring 2012; 2013–present)

Former

• Ryan Mellor - screamed vocals (2005–2010)
• Sebastian Spitz - lead guitar (2005)

References

External links

• Deaf Havana on Facebook
• Deaf Havana on Myspace
• Wolf at Your Door Records