the will to rally

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Forced to Run

Album: EP1

Released: Dec 6, 2008

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Forced to Run
2:30
224 plays
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You Sinner
3:13
153 plays
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Blisters of Happiness
3:33
191 plays
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Youthful 2
2:33
104 plays
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I Heart Birmingham
3:18
151 plays

Total Plays: 5,794 / Plays Today: 4See All Featured ►

General Info

Genre: Indie / Pop / Rock
Location Birmingham, Midlands, UK
Profile Views: 14486
Last Login: 10/9/2010
Member Since 11/22/2005
Type of Label Unsigned
Bio
I’ve been asked to write a short (auto)biography of my band, The Will to Rally... I’m not sure what to write exactly, for we’re not a group that has a manifesto or conforms to a particular image. Also, writing about your own band requires an amount of self-importance, and inflating my own, or my band’s own, is something which makes me slightly embarrassed (although what’s about to follow might suggest otherwise)... .. When first forming the group, I did want it to be an all-encompassing, Stalinist experience, a bit like Dexys Midnight Runners or The Clash, where nothing else matters and friends and the past should be shed for the good of the group. However, our antipathy and lack of ambition (not just in musical terms but in life generally) thwarted this ideal, as did the antipathy and lack of interest shown towards us... .. So now I’m resigned to the fact that the group needs at times to be put into perspective and cannot always take precedence over everything else. But this is not to say it still isn’t important to us. In fact, I would say it is the rock to which we cling above the maelstrom of unbearable reality. That might be hyperbolical, yet it is true that the band provides an opportunity to dream and be creative, and is thus a distraction from the prosaic realities of full-time employment... .. This is all very nice, but before I get too sanctimonious I should write a few words about what really matters, namely the music we make. We were once described as sounding like a cross between Dexys Midnight Runners and Queens of the Stoneage, and I think this is the biggest compliment the group has ever received (apart from someone once describing the melody of one of our songs as Burt Bacharach-esque). That’s because I would say this is exactly the type of sound we were striving for when first forming the group. Personally, my ideal would be to sound like Metallica covering ABBA songs, but that might be taking it too far. Anyway, you get the general idea: our sound comes from the fuzzy area where pop meets rock and our songs are written using riffs, hooks and melodies... .. Incidentally, we were once described as sounding like ‘Elvis Costello with balls’, but I think that’s down to the fact that the singer (that would be me) is bespectacled and plays guitar, and also down to the fact that his (my) voice is not particularly pleasant or mellifluous – it was once described as sounding like Kermit the Frog after too much fizzy pop... .. In terms of what our songs are about, I would say that anything goes. The themes touched upon so far include mortality, loss of identity, masturbation, homosexuality in wartime, home, love (of course), sex and murder – big themes about which the author (that would be me again) knows nothing but which make interesting subject matter nonetheless... .. When first starting out, I wanted the group to be a confrontational, stare-its-audience-in-the-eyes sort of live act. However, this attitude can backfire when you’re an unsigned band and can come across as over-confident or arrogant (plus, it doesn’t help when you have no audience in to whose eyes you can stare). Therefore, our live shows of late, albeit intense and impassioned affairs, tend to be less confrontational and earnest than they were in the early days. To sum us up, I would say we are a loud and energetic live band, without being an in-yer-face, you-fackin’-rotter, leap-up-and-down type of band... .. Finally, if for any reason you’re wondering what we look like, try to imagine what a group with George McFly on drums, Napoleon Dynamite on lead guitar, a young George W Bush on bass and vocals and Fogell (A.K.A. McLovin) on vocals and rhythm guitar would look like and you’re part of the way there... .. Hopefully see you soon.. .. .. Rob Harris, The Will to Rally.. ..
Members
Robert Harris - Vocals, Guitar..Paul Roach - Guitar..Richard Banner - Bass, Vocals..Greg Ikin - Drums
Influences
In no particular order : Pixies, Buddy Holly, Wire, Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey, Love, The Butthole Surfers, Pere Ubu, Soundgarden, John Carpenter, The Kinks, Dexys Midnight Runners, Smog, Boards of Canada, Scott Walker, Television, Nirvana, The Moody Blues, Black Flag, Gang of Four, Ennio Morricone, Sonic Youth, The Clash, Pavement, Sebadoh, 13th Floor Elevators, Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, Devo, Minutemen, Husker Du, The Monks, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Queen, The Field Mice, Dinasour Jr, Blur, Nick Cave, ELO, Birmingham, and many more...
Sounds Like
All and none of the above.