GuilFest 2006. The 3 Day Guildford Music Festival on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2006

About the bands
return to main menu [return]

Artist: The Black Velvets
Genre: Rock
Performing: 16th July 2005 / The BBC Radio 2 Mainstage
Website Address: [www.theblackvelvets.tv] ,
...................................................................

The Black Velvets… a brand new signing to Vertigo Records in the summer of 2004… what is there to say about them at this stage… how long have you got? In an era when rock music is back, and not the introspective stylings of grunge or the brattishness of nu metal, The Black Velvets are just what Great Britain has been waiting for. We are talking swaggering timeless rock here and not some retro pantomime version either.

The Black Velvets are 4 lads from Liverpool with a shared love of everything from T-Rex to AC/DC to The Stone Roses to Guns ‘n’ Roses. Their music is unashamedly big in sound and they produce simple yet classic tunes that if you are going to stick your neck out and be bolshy (which they are) sounds like Led Zep with melodies by The Beatles. Whether you agree with them or not doesn’t matter to them because they just want to be the biggest band in the world and if you don’t have ambition and balls as big as water melons you will continue to play some shitty club in Runcorn to six bored people dribbling into their warm pints. They have already toured with The Killers and Stellastarr* and had support slots with The Who and John Squire. It was at the Shepherds Bush Empire gig with Squire where they signed their deal with Vertigo. Witnessing the whole shebang was Liam Gallagher but he refused to sign the contract (despite The Black Velvets assuring him that it wasn’t “a f**king police statement”) so they asked John Squire to be their witness but by the time he had made his way to the dressing room they had got bored waiting and just asked a passer by to sign instead.

The Black Velvets simply have to been seen live… even if it was that shitty club in Runcorn they still take to the stage like they have just walked on at a packed Hollywood Bowl. Their agent, Steve Strange (Eminem, Coldplay) thinks they are the best new live band he has seen in 10 years and Bill Curbishley (manager of The Who) was similarly blown away when he saw them support his band. Sanctuary were so impressed after seeing them perform that they immediately offered to manage them, rival managers offered them a £20,000 advance but the band went with their instincts and signed with the biggest rock management company in the world which fit in perfectly with their ambitions. Having sealed the deal Sanctuary have put them in their top 3 priority acts for the world alongside Morrissey and Destiny’s Child.

It’s simple really… The Black Velvets want to have a good time and they want to take as many people along for the ride as possible. You up for it?