Sam Scott - Guitar and Percussion
Sam Skae - Guitar
Lozzo - Guitar and Vocals
James Munro - Bass Guitar
Influences
The Smiths Joy Division Kate Bush The Doors The Cure David Bowie Bob Dylan The Beatles
Sounds Like
'Hannibal ad Portas' @ The Jericho, Oxford:
"Bright young starlets with their evolving style of swaggering indie punk ska with swooping riffs, crashing chorus' and urban commentary."- Autumn Neagal, Coo Coo Club
"Taking folk and stamping it through a new wave filter, their songs are poppy and surprisingly angular. A particularly invigorated display from their bass player finds us thinking back to Peter Hook as well as Echo and The Bunnymen as he propels the songs with stark pulsing rhythms. Definitely a band to keep an eye on."- Sam Shephard, Nightshift ***
"intense, rough hewn indie-punk with an esoteric, atmospheric arty-rock edge that means you can never get too comfortable." - Punt Festival Preview ***
"Evening openers, the gritty, bottom-of-the-ashtray indie-rock quartet Hearts in Pencil throw a curve-ball with their impressive opening number..." - The Fly ***
“Hearts in Pencil are way less Doherty-like than i expected instead feeling a bit Madchester at points with delayed guitar lines and relentless almost tribal drumming combined with driving bass lines pummelled out by a constantly active skinny sweaty teenage ‘Alex James-a-like’ all topped off with a bit of charismatic gypsy folk rambling calling to mind a young Marc Bolan at points and at others a 'Boy' era Bono. Very interesting prospect!” - Lee Christian, Smilex
***
“purposefully shambolic… intricacy and wholesome riffs… which I could have listened to forever” - Josie Allchin, Oxfordshire Music Scene ***
“Promising Good Shoes style indie pop from Oxfordshire teenagers. It’s a bit Art Brut, it’s a bit Buzzcocks. It’s all good. 3 late teens from Witney in Oxfordshire have recorded a cracking indie pop demo, with some refreshing attention to lyrical detail.” - Artrocker ***
"This is psychedelia with fangs, fading in with strange sounds this is serious art rock with spiky guitars, intense vocals and string samples. Big, fierce and angry sounding, roaring into thrashy episodes the listener is taken up on a frantic trip out with the wild hunt to be finally left frazzled and changed at the end of its six minute duration." - The New Roxette (review of 'Hannibal ad Portas') ***
"Hearts in Pencil are an unusual, unsigned, late-teen, four piece from Oxford who have been well-received on live outings around their home city of Oxford, with gig offers flowing thick and fast. Although their sound may typically be described as indie, their songs have also been genre-identified as punk, and even ska." - I Like Music ***
"Here are four confident teens from Oxford who aren’t afraid of a bit of experimentation. This starts out like a particularly louche version of Flowered Up’s Weekender, before throwing a few strident punky moves and ending up sounding like The Clash at their most urgent. Grandiose stuff." - The Crack Magazine
We played one of your tunes at our last DRMP night on the 19th Nov (see our blog for details). Next gig is this Friday, gonna be an end of year slammer this Friday (11th Dec).
The rockhopper is coming to Oxford for 1 day only. Record your music and get an HD video of your live performance on October 17th. vist http://www.rockhopper-mobile.co.uk to book a slot at an outstandingly low price courtesy of TopoftheOx. Limited places are available so book early to get this one off opportunity.
Just wanted to say I just heard you are playing on a Radio 1 BBC Introducing gig in Cardiff on 22nd October! That's awesome news! I will see you there for the live mix!
Looking forward to pre-prod on the 27th for the new tracks too... Exciting times!
Thanks to everyone for Monday night (4th), it was a bloody ace night. Three great bands! We also play some cool new music, especially from Oxford's finest and when your track played there was 'Pandemonium'!!
Congrats! You've made it into our top ten tunes for April. Check out our blog for the other runners and ryders.
Daisy
ps Dear Oxfordshire fans - If you, like us, like these guys then come down to the Jericho Tavern, Oxford on Monday 4th for our launch night. Three great bands - Redtrack, Tripwires, Modern Cliches - plus playing some of the best new music around (like these guys!). See you there!
dude! i am in the library and i tried on headphones but no sound is coming out! next time i guess! unless that is your new sound but somehow i doubt it! hope all is cool with u guys! get int ouch with terri when u don't have any gigs that will be too close to the second friday of the month! take care - see u soon dude! x
