Undercut
Soul Food Mother

Release date: October 18th

Label: Distiller Records

Fittingly, for a band that spent six months rehearsing in an aircraft hangar, the Undercut sound is ambitious and immense; the epic single ‘Soul Food Mother’, the intense second track ‘Butterfly’ and the soul-rending melody of ‘Coming Back Down to Earth’ were tailor-made to be heard in packed arenas across the globe.

Bristol-based Undercut – Johnny Benn (vocals), Sam Dyson (guitar/backing vocals), Wayne Jones (bass), Dave Betts (rhythm guitar) and Matt Albon (drums) – thought this was where they were heading when a demo fell into the hands of Ian Grimble (The Las, Manic Street Preachers, Mansun), who was so impressed he worked on a couple of tracks for free. These tracks turned up on the desk of one John Leckie (Radiohead, The Verve, Muse), who loved them so much he wanted to produce their debut album.

With Grimble and Leckie both offering their services, Undercut found themselves in the unenviable position of having two of the country’s most acclaimed producers interested to work on their debut album and no record label to release it. The Grimble-produced tracks had Sony, Warners, BMG, Universal, V2 and Parlophone/EMI talking deals. But with mergers, acquisitions and plummeting share prices to worry about, the deals themselves were painfully slow in materialising.

Fearful of losing their two trump cards, they decided to put their own money where the A&R men’s mouths were and set up a fully-fledged label, Distiller Records, themselves. It’s a brave move, but one they felt compelled to make.

As for which of the two producers got to do the honours, it wasn’t a decision taken lightly…

“No, there was a lot of soul searching there,” admits Sam. “But because we had worked with Ian before, we knew that he could get the best from us, but I’m sure we would have had an equally creative experience with John Leckie”.

On listening to ‘Soul Food Mother’, it’s clear they made the right choice. Not to overplay the theme of fate and destiny, but as ‘Soul Food Mother’ rocks out to the chorus, it does so with a reassuring sense that some things are just meant to be. Or to use the words of the esteemed Mr Leckie, it sounds unmistakably like a “killer hit”.

See Undercut live: October 6th London Putney The Half Moon; October 11th Bristol Academy (supporting The Wonder Stuff)

For further information on Undercut please contact Louise on 01223 830111
or email Louise@quitegreat.co.uk