This Is Not TV

Scouting For Girls are pleased to announce details of their UK Winter Tour.

The British indie-pop sensations will kick off the tour in Bournemouth on the 1st November and conclude at London ’s Brixton Academy on the 27th November. The band finish their current Spring tour on 29th May which has included a record-breaking 4 sold-out nights at London ’s Shepherds Bush Empire.

Scouting For Girls reached number 1 with their debut album, ‘Scouting For Girls’ in January of this year, and have sold in excess of half a million records to date. They are the biggest selling UK band of 2008.

Tickets for all shows will go on general sale from Friday 30th May.

The band release their new single, ‘It’s Not About You’ on the 28th July through Epic Records.

Scouting For Girls play:

1st November – Bournemouth , Solent-BIC
2nd November – Plymouth , Pavillions
3rd November – Brighton , Centre
4th November – Southend, Cliffs Pavillion
6th November – Newcastle , Academy
7th November – Grimsby , Auditorium
8th November – Wolverhampton , Civic
10th November – Manchester , Apollo
12th November – Swindon , Oasis
14th November – Cardiff , Arena
15th November – Liverpool , University
16th November – Nottingham , Arena
18th November – Leeds , Academy
20th November – Glasgow , Academy
22nd November – Doncaster , Dome
23rd November – Portsmouth , Guildhall
27th November – London , Brixton Academy

www.myspace.com/scoutingforgirls
www.scoutingforgirls.co.uk

Popularity: 28% [?]

100 years ago, a military hero took a group of boys to an island off Southampton for a weekend of exploration & adventure. If someone did that nowadays, they’d be pilloried and burnt at the stake. As a society, our innocence is lost, replaced by mistrust and consumer goods. Still, at least we got high-tech games consoles as part of the bargain. Sweet deal.

Occasionally, you do come across an isolated pocket of wide-eyed, adolescent, hormone-fuelled naivety that is as close to innocence as you get in these cynical times. Scouting For Girls are one of those pockets, filled with lint, fluffy fruit gums and pictures of ladies cut out from Janet Frazer’s lingerie section. This fulsome threesome met when they were still wee kidders (Vocalist Roy Stride was drummer Pete Ellard’s ‘sixer’ in Cub Scouts and Greg Churchouse knew Roy from primary school. Bless) but only started making tunes together in 2005. 2007 could be the year of the Wolf Cub (their fan club) for them if they can continue to make singles of the same high calibre as their debut, ‘She’s So Lovely.’

With all the urgency of a premature ejaculation, the song explodes into being with a flurry of handclaps, bass and vamped Kate Nash pianoforte. “I like the way she fills her clothes,” leers Roy, “she looks just like the girls in vogue.” Brash, illusory, eager and… sweet, really. Roy continues to pound his way on the piano through the four line verse full of Benny Hill subtlety, before pausing momentarily to gather momentum for the brain worm of a chorus. “She’s so lovely!” Repeat until you get the idea. This is the point that you’ll probably think “Crowded House? Without the edge?” Okay, it is undeniably simple pop fare, but it has the flags of the world up its sleeves. Listen.

Hot on the heels of the chorus comes the bridge, hot blooded and similarly unsubtle: “she’s flirty/and thirty/ ain’t that the age a girl gets really dirty?” Roy questions, perpetuating the myth of the older woman. Then, as it all gets a bit much, a second, more contemplative bridge carries the song and we’re into the chorus again. Four simple sound-bites, slid about willy-nilly to convey the chaotic exuberance of fantasy and infatuation coupled with bashful hesitation and self-doubt. And on top of that structural complexity, it still maintains its pop simplicity – check out those school yard couplets and triplets – but not by wallowing in musical condescension.

I know I’ve banged on about it, but I’m stating a case, because I know there are those out there who will dismiss this as a Pigeon Detectives-a-like on first hearing. Give it a few more hearings and you’ll realise it’s not as crass or ladsy as those… people; it’s a lot nicer, sweeter and a hell of a lot more fun. Be prepared for a whole lot more.

Popularity: 9% [?]