Featured Tours

Eight Legs

• 19th Jan 2010

Eight Legs on Tour
24th Feb @ 93 Feet East, London
25th Feb @ The Rainbow, Birmingham
26th Feb @ Elbow Rooms, Leeds
27th Feb @ Roadhouse, Manchester
28th Feb @ Classic Grand, Glasgow

EIGHT LEGS – The Electric Kool-Aid Cuckoo Nest

Released: 22nd February 2010 on Boot Legs.

NME once described Eight Legs as “the Musical equivalent of Christiano Ronaldo, Eight Legs are young, sexy and you can’t help liking them”. A fast and furious quote for a band making the musical equivalent – danceable, energy fuelled blasts of fun. Let’s not get too distracted by great tunes and declarations of sexiness though. For beneath the totally cool and accessible exterior lies a bunch of sharp and savvy individuals. The rather tongue-tying album title you see above is an amalgamation of Tom Wolfe’s 1968 literary work ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test’ and the classic 1962 novel ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’; the author of which – Ken Kessey – inspired the former piece of work with his wayward adventures and LSD experimentation. An interest in drugs and the human condition fills ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Cuckoo Nest’, alongside musings on love, life and the various frustrations of growing-up in a seemingly unexciting generation, with nothing to offer but the same-old Saturday night rough and tumble. It brims with social commentary that is poetically charming in its beating heart honesty and youthful naivety, while simultaneously throwing out stabbing shards of insightfulness and raw awareness. “I wish it was the 60’s, drugs were still interesting, sex was still liberating and the kids were still protesting” – ‘I Wish It Was The 60’s’ Musically it’s undoubtedly infectious, all twelve of its eclectic tunes linked in their Eight Legs signature of throbbing skyrocketing choruses and rip-roaring guitar, slightly raw and rough around the edges keeping it just the right side of pop-punk. First single ‘I Understand’ pulsates with early ‘90’s psychedelia and jangly guitar; ‘Stay Cool’ throbs with a Specials-esque. beat; ‘Just So You Know’ a pop-ballad which veers towards the uplifting beat of The Beatles circa 1963, (had they listened to the odd Ramones record); ‘Best of Me’ is dark, paranoid and driving with the chorus ‘first they got the best of me, then they came back and got the rest of me’ spat out with the passion of a band that mean every fucking word. And the album’s last, title track is its crowning glory. An epic rock opera of a tune with a drum intro to rival Keith Moons and a sublime spoken monologue that perfectly encapsulates the bitter-sweet moment when the furious, adrenaline fuelled night nears its end and you can’t help but think ‘is this it?’
“It is like the whole thing has snapped and the whole front section of the arena becomes a writhing, seething mass of little girls, shaking and moving and pushing and squirming their arms in the air like a thousand pink tentacles of one giant colonial animal, their teeny agony being ripped out of their hearts” – ‘The Electric Kool -Aid Acid Test’ …..p.t.o

Such an insightful band should have a past. Eight Legs certainly do. It’s one of success, followed by savvy moves ensuring a future of freedom from the usual industry constraints. Forming in 2006 the band had overnight success rare for such newcomers. Creative Director Heidi Slimane personally handpicked them to soundtrack Dior Homme’s Paris fashion show that year, following in the footsteps of the established and the great, Razorlight and Beck to name a few. The track used ‘These Grey Days’ (from the bands debut) was also picked up by ad men with a good ear and is presently blasting from your TV on the ‘Boys Night Out’ anti-binge drinking campaign. The track also scored fans in other high places – Radio 1’s new music champions Zane Lowe, Huw Stephens and Colin Murray happily span it, while XFM speedily added it to their playlist and offered Eight Legs a Music Response session. Following suit, the UK music press picked up their ears – and pens –promptly, from the music monthlies: “(Eight Legs) would have made Peel proud” – Uncut, to the dailies: “Eight Legs serve up rock ‘n’ roll as you like it – brimming with wired energy, hot riffs and saucy yet sophisticated lyrics” – The Mirror. While other bands might have rested on their laurels, Eight Legs busied themselves setting up their own label Boot Legs, proudly established by cash earned from the above accolades and their incredible European success. ‘The Electric Kool-Aid Cuckoo Nest’ will be released on Monday 22nd February 2010, preceded by the single ‘Best of Me’, out on Monday 15th February. Both on the bands own Boot Legs label.