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Tycoons Follies are a Manchester based band rain soaked in the psychedelic muse that has served the northwest so well for years This is classic English song writing in a rootsy pop outfit blending elements of folk, psychedelia, old film scores, skewed wonder and rock n roll and a northern psychedelic. And its that psychedelic twist that has flavoured all the best bands from up here, a tradition that starts when the Beatles went all fantastically wonky with ‘Strawberry Fields’ and ‘Penny Lane’, - perhaps the greatest pop single ever released, it was revived with the post punk musings of the Bunnymen and the Fall and has been refined by the godlike genius of the Las and more recently Shack this is 3D music drenched in the atmosphere of the Victorian gothic and the mystic psychic skylines of Liverpool and Manchester but still retaining the tough down to earth grittiness of its birth and served up with a classic English song writing nous.

This is music born of a reverence for the genius mavericks of Arthur Lee and Syd Barret, people who could write genius pop songs but took them on a little trip. Band vocalist Steve Trafford was the first person to put together a tribute night for Saint Syd when the gnome like one floated away last summer. Trafford is an indestructible front man who survived The Mighty Fall with Mark E Smith. He put the current line-up of the band together after he notoriously left the Fall last summer after one frustrating tour too many with the Fall vocalist, Trafford quit with the rest of the Fall in Arizona and bounced back to the UK to continue with the band he had been talking about in the city’s gritty pubs. With long-term Manc drummer Brian Edwards and bassplayer French Tom they had the core of the band.

The demo he gave me within weeks of starting the band blew my mind, pristine melodies, great playing and a tight economical sound twisted with the whiff of the psychic spliff of Arthur Lee they sounded like a band fully formed and brilliant new addition to the maverick spirit of the real music of the north west, that obstinate twisted pop soundtracks the real city. Their first 'So Long' EP is brilliant proof of this and a stunning riposte to the Fall who will seriously miss Trafford’s songwriting nous. The release and the second EP received much interest and the band was asked to do numerous live radio sessions (BBC6 music, BBC, XFM, ALLFM), a new 3-track EP is out shortly Tycoons Follies are a pretty big tip for 2007, not only the sound of purple but the sound of now, get there early an check them out now.

JOHN ROBB 2006

* Steve is currently playing guitar and writing with Paul Heaton (Beautiful South/Housemartins) with Tom on bass and Brian on drums.

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