Unsigned West Bromwich band WOUNDEDSPiRiT go World Cup crazy
With World Cup fever well and truly building, one local unsigned band are doing all they can to get fans in the mood with an unofficial England anthem.
WOUNDEDSPiRiT, from West Bromwich, have remixed one of the tracks off their recently released debut album to help football fans cheer on Gareth Southgate's squad as they head out to Russia for this summer's showpiece.
Called England Stand Up, it is a reworking of the song Stand Up, which appeared on the album FOREVER Young that they released back in March and we reviewed here.
The former Unsigned band of the week in The Ticket - made up of frontman Jason Kelly, 47, from Rowley Regis, drummer Elton McTaggart, 44, from West Bromwich, guitarist Steve 'Biggsy' Biggs, 48, from Featherstone, 44-year-old bassist Terry Ebanks from West Bromwich and Debbie Partridge, 47, from Kingswinford, on keyboards - have been promoting the song with features Har-Q heavily on social media.
"We think we can go national with the track," said Kelly. "The song is a remix of a track off our debut album and the aim is to make a dent in the charts.
"It felt like an anthem. We don’t think we have had a good original World Cup song since Embrace in 2006. We are hoping the song captures people's imagination. It’s a song looking at past glories and future hopes, we have mixed hip/hop with indie rock plus the original football commentary to hopefully capture the imagination."
And the music video has a local tinge too. The band invaded the West Bromwich Albion fanzone before the side's 1-0 victory over Tottenham at The Hawthorns on May 5 - a club they are fanatical about and have filmed videos with before.
Baggies hero Brendon Batson was on-hand to join in, as was tireless Albion Foundation campaigner Blind Dave Heeley, who is known to be a fan of the rock group. Further scenes were shot in Kenrick Park in the town.
The song is released tomorrow via iTunes, Spotify and Deezer and the video will be free to view online. To see the band, Brendon, Blind Dave and the Baggies fanatics do their thing to inspire England, look out for links via WOUNDEDSPiRiT's Twitter page @WoundedSpirit1 or on Facebook @WOUNDEDSPiRiT2. The video will be going live in the afternoon.
