Stourbridge/Birmingham's Of Kings And Captains make fresh start with new EP - unsigned column
Born in Stourbridge, Of Kings And Captains have followed many of their contemporaries and made the move eastwards to Birmingham in search of more gig venues, fans and opportunities.
While the Black Country boasts an enviable local music scene other regions can only dream of, you can't fault a band for picking what feels right for them and charging towards it.
It's a journey that has worked well the the four-piece - vocalist and guitarist Luke Wassell, fellow guitarist and backing vocalist Joshua Lomas, bassist and backing vocalist Dean Greatbatch, and aptly-named, newly acquired drummer Anthony Power.
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Their current line-up boasts more national elements. Their members fuse the Black Country, Birmingham and London, opening up contacts books and potential fanbases on a new level.
"Everything about the band feels fresh since Anthony joined," says Wassell, a passionate advocate of his band's work always keen to give you everything you need in order to be up to date with their latest news. For example, he is currently on holiday while he speaks to us. "I met Anthony, known as Stumpy, completely by chance in Birmingham. I recognised him from an old band he used to perform with called Scatch. I used to love those guys.
"At our time of meeting the Captains had come to a stop. We had almost decided to call it a day. But after a rehearsal with Stumpy we decided to make another go of it."
And that "go of it" is released to the world today in the form of their new three-track EP Broken Robots. Recorded at Wolverhampton's Magic Garden Studios with Joseph Murray - who did an "outstanding job for us" according to Wassell - it gives a fresh window into the pop-rock-punk sound "The Captains" produce.
In fact, Wassell even hinted at a rebranding too, saying: "We tend to be abbreviated to just The Captains these days. We may one day consider shortening it."
And the EP?
"The inspiration for the EP really came from conversations I’d had with Josh and his belief that robots would take over the world...true story.
"It got me thinking about how we are more like robots then we know. We work, sleep, eat, repeat. If you you don’t pause for a moment you can sometimes forget what life is all about.
"Somehow I arrived at Broken Robots and the tracks vary from the opening track - Replay - which is probably our most conventional boy-meets-girl relationship theme, to Lights, which is a song about being insignificant in the grand scale of the universe and wanting to be all you can in the finite time we have with each other.
"We’re super excited to get Broken Robots out for people to start listening to. We put out an acoustic album a while back but this will be the first release of all-new music we’ve done in a while."
We reviewed that EP elsewhere, describing it as: "A neat and tidy return for Of Kings And Captains, while never really threatening to push on any boundaries. If you like these guys, this will be right up your alley.
"They've been around a while now, with reports of their live shows stretching back to 2011. It's a long time for a local collective to keep plugging away, and their continued enthusiasm for what they do shows how much they love being a band."
And, of course, they'd be stupid not to capitalise on the buzz of a new release for fans to hear and get some live dates penned in so people can experience the new tracks.
"We have some gigs lined up to follow on from the release and we hope to get our music out to as many new people as possible," Wassell adds.
The first of these is tonight, in their spiritual home of Stourbridge at the increasingly popular Claptrap The Venue.
"This will be our EP launch gig and we’ll be performing alongside Flashhearts," he adds.
Flashhearts are another Black Country-based pop-rock-punk outfit. Doors open at 8pm, with tickets available for £3 on the door.
After that, they play their adopted home of Birmingham at The Victoria on November 15, before returning to Stourbridge at Katie Fitzgerald's on December 14. Wassell also promises there are more to be confirmed.
And for those who have never had the pleasure of seeing them live before, what can readers expect if they break their Of Kings And Captains duck tonight and head out to see them?
"We've got high energy and relentless pop-punk," Wassell beams. "There's fast-paced songs that you can pogo along to and hopefully some bad jokes you can take away from the show and share with your friends. It's generally a lively night of laughs and entertainment.
"We’ve really put all of our effort into this EP and we’re hoping to continue with more gigs to help us see out the rest of the year. We are currently working on more new songs but it’s early days at the moment."
So does that mean a full-length release might be in the offering then?
"We have no plans for an LP as of yet," Wassell admits. "We’re going to see how the EP goes down first as we’ve been away for a while."
But that reinvented journey for the band starts in earnest tonight. They may not be their first gigs with Power behind the drums, but with that "fresh" feeling to The Captains Wassell mentioned, fans could be in for an eye-opening vision of things to come.
Of Kings And Captains can be found on Twitter @ofkingsandcaps and Facebook @ofkingsandcaptains, while their website is http://ofkingsandcaptains.com/. Their EP launch show tonight has a Facebook page with more information on both acts, which can be found here.
