Walsall and Cannock unsigned band Dead Agents look ahead to the future

Dead Agents partied hard to celebrate the release of their self-titled debut EP, packing out The Flapper in Birmingham on April 27 to showcase their material live and take the first tentative steps to musical stardom.

And the irony that it should happen at a venue soon to be lost to the dreaded developer's flats axe was not lost on frontman David James Foster.

"It was a really good show," he recalls. "We packed out The Flapper wall-to-wall. It was good to finally have our music out there but it was sad to hear about the venue's end.

"We have all played there before in separate bands and it's just one of those real heritage venues that people love."

It capped a busy year for the band, who have been scurrying away for nearly 12 months to breathe life into the Dead Agents name. They formed at the end of June last year. Walsall boy Foster, 33, lending his vocals and rhythm guitars alongside fellow WS lad Adam Beddows on lead guitar. Then there are two Cannock musicians providing the rhythm - bassist Adam Furmage and drummer Geoff Fry.

"We've had a good time," Foster adds. "We just gel really well."

Foster and Beddows are also business partners, being the brains behind Vigo Studios in Birmingham. It's where the EP was conceived, as well as being used by other local acts such as Stourbridge metal icons Diamond Head and Brummie band The Bad Flowers, who released their own debut album earlier this year as well as featuring as The Ticket's Unsigned stars of the week in February.

"I've known Tom [Leighton] from The Bad Flowers for a long time, we are really good friends," adds Foster. "Both of us I guess are part of this emerging West Madlands scene which is currently rising.

"I thought that in recent times the interest in local music had waned. But I was wrong and there is currently a massive buzz for live music. It's great to see people out and about and making friends with other bands.

"I'd love for fans to fight to keep these venues alive. The music community is constantly growing and ideally I'd love for people to open up new venues to replace those which are closing. People are out there, we're seeing the busiest crowds ever. To lose that would be tragic.

"Most of all, I'd like to encourage venues to have good, loud PA systems," he adds, laughing.

And the band have been busy broadening their horizons to include gigs further afield too. Ticked off on their 'been there, done that' list is Worcester's most popular music spot, as well as others.

"We played Worcester's Marr's Bar which none have us have ever played before," said Foster of the Pierpoint Street venue. "Honestly it was one of my favourite shows I have ever done.

"It was packed out from back to front and it was brilliant. On top of that, we came off the stage and our song I Belong was playing on the speaker system so that was really cool. A really nice moment.

"We sold every CD we had with us so it shows we are making an impression and people further afield like our stuff.

"It's great, but it's a shame we can't gig more locally. There's just no venues that suit what we do for bands our size.

"Saying that, we do have one show lined up. On June 1 we are supporting Liberty Lies on the local date of their tour at Another Birmingham venue - The Asylum."

And looking forward, that show isn't the only prize Dead Agents have their eyes on.

"We also made the provisional list to play at Download Festival this summer but unfortunately with the EP release we were just too late to the party. So we've been deferred until 2019 now.

"We've also got our eyes firmly on the Birmingham Music Awards, next year we are going to go for one. That's a bit of a goal for us."

Held in early May, this year saw one of the first The Ticket Unsigned bands to feature - Penkridge's Sugarthief - walk away with one of the top gongs. And David wants to see Dead Agents get lucky next time around.

"Stone Broken [Walsall rock band] also did really well. They're killing it at the moment. We want to be there next year.

"We're in talks for a tour as well," Foster adds. "We are going to try and release an album and get some tours and festivals lined up.

"BBC Midlands Introducing are making some real noise for us right now and we want more of that. We want people like that to make as much noise for us as they can.

"There are some guys who have really helped us out so far. We'd love to mention Jack Parker at BBC Introducing and Tim Senna at Switch Radio which is like a community radio in Birmingham.

"These guys really champion that Madlands scene and without them bands like us would struggle more to get anywhere."

But if the buzz coming off the EP continues to grow then Dead Agents shouldn't have too much trouble making some noise of their own and the praise from the established music men will become a luxurious bonus rather then a necessity to survive.

l Tickets for Dead Agents' support slot for Liberty Lies at Asylum are available from https://theasylumvenue.co.uk/events/liberty-lies-asylum-1st-june/ and for more on the band follow them on Twitter at @deadagentsband and on Facebook @deadagents