Mark mangles the guitar 'n' vocals, Westy on the drums, Nancy plays keyboards and sings, and now it's Steve who plucks that bass
Influences
Who knows if they are influences but at the Echo Heights disco, the DJ is playing.... Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Smashing Pumpkins, Frank Sinatra, Go Betweens, Chills, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Love, The Doors, The Dentists, Velvet Underground, Teenage Fanclub, The Claim, The Smiths, Morrissey, Dinosaur JR, Poster Children, Modest Mouse, a little early Embrace, Joni Mitchell, maybe some Delta 5, B52’s, JTQ, Prisoners, Wild Billy Childish, Wire, Orange Juice, Weezer, Smog, Wedding Present, Young Knives, Frightened Rabbit, British Sea Power, Sufjan Stevens, Ad Frank and Urusei Yatsura ... oh, and we love Scrubs, Green Wing, Sopranos, My Name is Earl, Mighty Boosh, Black Books, Life on Mars, Withnail and I, Bill and Ted, Back to the Future, Jay and Silent Bob and Porridge when we get home from bopping.
Sounds Like
Talking Heads meets the Lemonheads and the Chills apparently
Echo Heights – Biography thus far….
It’s September 1995 and the final death throws of perennial pop underdogs THE DENTISTS have reached their logical conclusion. The band go their separate ways, although as one last parting gift to the world, three of the members loosely hang together and eventually release an album of what is effectively Dentists works-in-progress, under the name Coax. The singer disappears into the world of accountancy somewhere in Russia, the drummer just disappears and Mark Matthews retreats to his room to learn to play the guitar better and dabble with the opportunities afforded through technology and home recording. The songs start to trickle out, and various combos are launched and implode with no or minimal success. Sightings of any of The Dentists become rare until a crazy idea takes hold in the autumn of 2004 and Matthews links up once again with guitarist Robert Collins to form The GREAT LINES and travel to Austin, Texas for the revered music festival that is South By South West in March 2005.
In the cyclone of activity surrounding their new project, Matthews recruits Andy Martin to take on the bass playing responsibility in Texas, despite Martin being a solid guitar player himself. The Great Lines eventually prove to be as short lived as any other post-Dentists projects, but Matthews and Martin now have a taste for it, and those bedroom demos keep coming and evolving.
The formation of the ECHO HEIGHTS can probably be pin-pointed at sometime around the start of 2006. Matthews and Martin begin a recruitment drive amongst their immediate friends and Nancy Mather and Nick Westcott jump at the chance to be involved. Mather comes on board with the intention of taking over the main vocal duties, but in keeping with the theme, takes over the keyboard primarily instead. (Matthews later acknowledges that when you’ve sung to the highest standards in the National Youth Choir, as Mather has done, it’s sometimes challenging to come down to the level of the dirty world of pop music). However, Mathers’ keyboard becomes a revelation and the line up is complete when Westcott, an old drinking pal of Martin, agrees to fill in temporarily on the drums. He hears the songs and never leaves.
Spring 2007 saw the band on a short American tour where upon Martin announced his departure to take a a new position a prospective father. Enter Steve Angel to save the day, and the band returned to the studio to record enough songs for a debut LP, Your Fortune As Told By the Stars.
Thanks for including us on your friends list. I hope that you liked the songs!
As a Boston radio station said about our first album.........
“This isn't just the best damned drinking album of the year; it's the best damned CD to play before you go out drinking to pump yourself up album of the year”
I reckon it also goes for our live show. So come along one day, see if you can drink us under the table and dance us off of the stage!
Cheers (p.s. the second album is even better!! – some tracks on free download on Myspace )
Thanks very much for the kind words and cheers for the luck we may well need it. Well played also...liking your recordings too. If you can make it on the 9th tht'll be great.
Do you work in that studio then?
Also if you ever need support or you no bands are needed for an event we'd be more than happy to play!
Yes, the downloads, they are a-comin'(sadly)...I still like my hits presented neatly in a brilliant sleeve - seared on some sort of discy thingy. How will I be able to score a copy of Your(my)Fortune in this lonely outpost called the U esta A?
After TWO long years, we're finally done our record and it's AVAILABLE RIGHT HERE FROM OUR ONLINE STORE. This is the limited, pre label release pressing of Yours As Fast As Mine.
