Band Of The Week: Viva Brother

It's not often we get great free shows in Downtown Providence and every Friday night this summer has given us some epic live music. So...

It's not often we get great free shows in Downtown Providence and every Friday night this summer has given us some epic live music. So Narragansett beer is pleased to welcome English pop group, Viva Brother to the WBRU Summer Concert Series. As always, this will be FREE and starts at 7:30PM at Waterplace Park this Friday. The weather should be gorgeous and if it's hot again, we'll have plenty of cold Gansett tall boys to quench your thirst. Here's their bio:

Viva Brother are an English pop-rock band hailing from Slough that was previously known as Brother. The band's debut album is due for release through Geffen Records in August 2011. They were signed to major global record label Geffen Records in October 2010 and to EMI Publishing in November 2010. They are currently working with Blur and The Smiths producer Stephen Street.

They describe their sound as “Gritpop” and count bands such as Blur, Stone Roses and The Smiths among their influences. However, prior to their debut as Brother the band had gone under the names Kill the Arcade and Wolf Am I. During this time the band wrote, recorded and performed music primarily in the pop-punk emo genre.

Upon playing their debut release - "Darling Buds of May" - on his BBC Radio 1 show, DJ Zane Lowe stated "We like [the song's] classic song structure, it harks back to a time of craft in British song-writing, before the edginess. It’s classic...” Lowe also picked-up on the band's blog site www.acidlove.net. The site featured a video of the band setting-up and playing a guerrilla gig in front of the railway station of their hometown, Slough, along with a promo video they had shot using money they had earned playing local gigs. Lowe's playing of their demo resulted in the band being signed to Geffen Records.

During February and March 2011 the band went on an UK tour with Indie pop/UK garage rapper The Streets and performed several gigs at the influential South by Southwest.

"Darling Buds of May" was released on February 28. "A Britpop sound but with a 2011 edge" according to Katie Territt of stereoboard.com, adding "it’s a song that has all the swagger of Liam Gallagher at his best, all the hype of Pete Doherty at his worst, and all the “gritpop” guitar you’ll ever need. A classic song, and a classic band in the making."

On 5 March 2011, Viva Brother appeared on early morning football show Soccer AM. They revealed that the name for the album was to be named Famous First Words, after discussing it in the canteen just half an hour before the interview. It is due for release in August 2011.

In June 2011, they were forced to change their band name from Brother to Viva Brother due to lawsuit from another band, also called Brother.

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