New York, NY (Top40 Charts) What the press are saying:
"Still as catchy as any band you could name, time has not mellowed her in any way" - Drowned In Sound
"A band of fans for fans, it's a celebration of the scene itself" - Louder Than War
"Every track sounds like a forgotten bubblegum hit from 1982" - Q Magazine
After twenty one singles, three EPs and seven albums, Welsh indie bubblegum-punks HELEN LOVE are pleased to announce they will release their long-awaited eighth studio album in April 2016 via Oxford, UK-based independent label Alcopop! Records.
However, before further details are revealed, she's kicking off with a fantastic Christmas single 'The Townhall Band', which is being released in aid of the Trussell Trust, with every penny of download sales being used to empower local communities to end hunger and combat poverty. Recorded with her pals including the likes of Tim Wheeler (Ash), Ricardo Autobahn, Pete Green (The Sweet Nothings), Andrea Lewis (Darling Buds) and more, this quirky lo-fi Xmas track is sure to be a festive favourite.
Helen will be touring the UK with a full live band on a select run of dates still to be announced in support of the new album, with further details of special-format releases also to follow.
Commenting on the signing, Jack Clothier of Alcopop says: "I've been a MASSIVE fan of Helen Love ever since I heard the 'Tommy Gun Clash' cover on Steve Lamacq's Bootleg Sessions Volume 2 back in 1999. My friend Dave sent me the 'Does Your Heart Go Boom' single and I was absolutely smitten. On the quest of becoming best pals with Helen and the gang I (genuinely) enrolled at Swansea University where they played exactly no hometown shows and I met them approximately never. Fast forward 10 years or so, and en route to the first HL show in London for many years, I bumped into Helen in a mid-priced chain pub and finally met the queen of the UK music scene. Now we're working together on her new album, and to put it frankly - I couldn't be happier about it. This is Helen Love on absolutely sparkling form... From Swansea Bay to the USA!"
Formed in Cardiff in 1992, HELEN LOVE are probably the biggest Ramones fans in Wales, if not the entire United Kingdom, if not the world. Mixing that trademark punk sound with a little B-52's and a whole lot of indie irony, over the years they've created a sunny and unapologetically disposable style that bursts into life like a saccharine disco-indie-punk piñata. Much loved and supported throughout the years by John Peel, their 1997 Peel Session is still a personal and fan highlight for the band, as was the summer afternoon on which Peel, after playing 'Does Your Heart Go Boom' said with a sardonic laugh: "That's HELEN LOVE...the sarcastic bastards".
With a back catalogue of songs like 'Julie's Got A New 7 Inch Single' - a litany to the luxurious pleasure of going to a record store to buy a new vinyl, taking it out of the cover, and playing it for the first time - HELEN LOVE have been beloved of true independent music champions for years, with generations of fans finally discovering what it was like to not be alone in the world; that there were other people out there who truly understood punk.
Jam-packed with colourful icons and brilliant, endless nostalgic memories of the history of pop, the band and their music have previously been cult favourites of John Peel, Steve Lamacq, Dave Gorman, Mark Radcliffe, Phill Jupitus, Everett True, Tim Wheeler (ASH) and Joey Ramone himself, who personally invited them to play in New York and sing with him on one of his solo albums.
UK TOUR DATES TBA
HELEN LOVE on the internet:
https://twitter.com/HELENLOVE123
https://myspace.com/helenlove
