Tuesday 16 August 2016

THE LUCKY STRIKES - THE MOTION AND THE MOVING ON

From the marshlands of the Thames Delta comes the fifth album from Southend on Sea’s Lucky Strikes.  The Motion And The Moving On is the band’s most personal album to date, covering everything from dead-end jobs and missing home to overwhelming grief and mental turmoil. But ultimately this is an album about salvation through music. That life on the road, with your brothers, can save your soul.

It was recorded at Reservoir Studios in north London with producer and engineer Chris Clarke from Danny and The Champions Of The World and features long-time Lucky Strikes collaborator Toby Shaer on fiddle, flute and saxophone.

Formed in 2006, the Lucky Strikes have released four critically-acclaimed albums encompassing garage blues, spaghetti western psych and Celtic folk. Their self-titled debut was recorded warts and all in their hometown of Southend - rough and maybe not quite ready, it was full of the piss, spit and aggression of youth. This was followed by The Chronicles Of Solomon Quick in 2009. A patchwork narrative centred on the man who killed Delta blues pioneer Robert Johnson. The record saw the band move from the monochrome palette of their debut to a more widescreen vison of Americana.  Piano, strings and pedal steel wove together to reveal a compelling musical tale.

Gabriel, Forgive My 22 Sins came next in 2011 and built on the vast Americana of its predecessor. Partly inspired by Nelson Algren’s Man With the Golden Arm, it tells the story of Frankie Valentinez, a boxer who took a bribe to throw a fight and then descended into madness. For 2013’s Exile And The Sea, the band found inspiration closer to home. From the archives of their local newspaper offices, they retold stories of the carnival queens, roughnecks and scoundrels of Estuary folklore. The album was voted one of the best of the year by Vive Le Rock magazine.  

The Lucky Strikes are fronted by MG Boulter, a sometime member of the Simone Felice Group, Emily Portman’s Coracle Band and an accomplished solo artist. He’s joined by Will Bray on drums, Paul Ambrose on bass, and Dave Giles on piano and accordion.

Release date: 30 September, Harbour Song Records

The Motion And The Moving On will be preceded by a single/video ‘War Drums’ in early September.

“Simply too good to ignore. You heard it here first” R2 magazine
“Like The Waterboys on trucker pills” Q magazine
“Dark and dirty Americana to chill your soul” Classic Rock magazine
“The songwriting sensibilities of Ray Davies… informed by Kevin Coyne” Americana-UK
“They're the best thing to come out of Southend since Rossi's ice-cream.” ***** Morning Star



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