‘No Hope, No Future’
New Album Released Digitally on 26th January 2010
Download the new single Under Control from the Good Shoes website
Good Shoes have always been an intriguing and contrary force. When their debut ‘Think Before You Speak’ was released in 2007, it was heralded as one of the years indie successes, with its fashionable jangly-guitar and pop-perfect tunes. However underneath its racing chart-friendly heart lay a band with an unbreakable punk ethos and a true independent soul. A band who (-controversial-) made music simply for love of creation, who similarly made their own distinctive and charmingly homemade videos. A band who never entertained commercial success, but who played sped up, ecstatic punk sets that caused muso’s hearts to explode.
Such ethos and unbridled energy shows no sign of faltering on Good Shoes second album ‘No Hope, No Future’ (out on Brille Records on 19th January). Self written, recorded and produced (naturally) in local basements and bedrooms for a grand total of £5,000 (sandwiches included), ‘No Hope, No Future’ has a character and emotive rawness sadly lost on the usual predictably shiny and overly–produced second album. Even the album artwork is D.I.Y. with Good Shoes fans being invited to Crystal Palace (London suburb) pool to be shot for the sleeve. As always, it’s a family affair.
That’s not to say some things haven’t changed. The off-kilter indie-pop of ‘The Way My Heart Beats’ and sleazy disco-flecked ‘Under Control’ are unmistakably Good Shoes - instant indie dance-floor classics with head-spinning riffs (but with just a little less ‘jangly’ than before). But when album track ‘Then She Walks Away’ hits with it’s pleading vocals laced in regret and ‘Everything You Do’, a dark droning track of moody atmospherics and disenchanted vocals (“everything you do, everything you say, always ends up turning out the same”), it’s apparent Good Shoes have matured. Some would call it a break-up album, with the universally recognised fear of being on the edge relayed beautifully in ‘City By The Sea’, but in truth it’s the sound of a band evolving, as it should, with a more intricate and at times heavier sound. It’s the unstoppable creative force that is Good Shoes moving on and up and offering another even better, bolder record. Hail the return of indie’s saviors.
Listen to 4 tracks taken from 'No Hope, No Future' with this embeddable widget
Fans can now pre-order ‘No Hope, No Future’ and receive their copy direct from the band on 11th January – two weeks ahead of its official release by ordering from the bands website at http://goodshoesstore.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DisplayItems-5-0-0.html including a bonus disk of Good Shoes acoustic tracks and previously unheard cover versions - all recorded live in front of a small, select studio audience. Also available on the on-line store are special, limited goodies including t-shirts and signed numbered screen print posters hand-made by Good Shoes.
Watch the video for Under Control
Good Shoes release the single ‘Under Control’ on 12th January with the album ‘No Hope, No Future’ following on the 26th. .
Good Shoes will make their debut US appearances in March, dates TBC, including SXSW.
For full worldwide tour dates visit:
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