The Trampformers are a promising young West Kirby band doing very well in Liverpool, all aged 16 and pupils of Calday Grammer School.
The West Kirby band were special guests for
an Ian Prowse acoustic show in Hoylake during September 2006 month and played their debut gig at Zanzibar
in Liverpool on Sunday Oct 8th.
The gig was in aid of the baby charity Zoe's Place. and was
an all-dayer featuring 13 up-and-coming soon-to-be-legendary young bands. Those mischievous miscreants of indie rock mayhem
and saviours of life known as THE TRAMPFORMERS, just a few turns of mother earth after their majestic Liverpool
debut, were invited back to the legendary Zanzibar Club on Sunday 29th October. In an all day event featuring over a
dozen hotly-tipped young bands.
The Coral's North West background shows itself
in the kind of musical heritage that the band draw on - 60s Merseybeat pop mixes with Beatles-esque rhymes with a few sea
shanties and hints of Russian folksongs.Lee Southall's own musical journey also takes in a vast amount of influences:
"Motown, The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield I love all that... I love Sam Cooke, Otis Reading and loads of 50s stuff - Del Shannon,
the Cordettes as well as Dusty Springfield, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and the Stones." The band members, who are all still
under 21, met at school in Hoylake in Merseyside back in 1996, learned to play their instruments
together, then started writing their own music.
The Coral played at Rock Island in 2004. It's been a busy
year since the band played at Island Rock in Newport. "We were in America in 2005 supporting Supergrass. We just went
out there and played, we weren’t looking to like, break it or anything, just go over and play - and they liked it. They
give you a bit more respect, they clap and that gets you going. This tour's been mad - the crowds know all the words to the
songs now and you walk on stage and they are roaring for you - it's a bit weird– it's an unexplainable feeling."After
being told to take a complete rest from playing after being diagnosed with tendonitis, Lee is enjoying life back on the road:
"The tour bus is nice, but it does get on top of you when there’s 16 fellas in one bus- it gets a bit smelly. We just
sit and write songs and read books - I'm reading To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemmingway
The Coral's rise since has been meteoric. 2002 brought them hit
singles like the jaunty Dreaming of You - tunes which naturally went down a storm with the recent Portsmouth gig crowd. Other
songs like Build me up Buttercup and Dreaming of You, also had the place jumping in a Showaddywaddy type fashion (but without
the multi-coloured jackets, thankfully).
They dovetailed with songs like Calendars and Clocks and God Knows - bluesy,
pop, harmonica-driven beasts, with building, tight guitar marathons. The songs won the band a Mercury nomination last year
for what the judges called: "A remarkably assured, eccentric and charming debut album".Their follow up album, produced by
Ian Broudie, is in the can and ready for release: "It's not a massive change - soundwise its really different, it's more natural,
more sound of the amps – and a lot more acoustic songs. We haven’t spiraled off into the middle of space,
it's still us playing music but the songs are a lot more personal and delicate." says Lee. The band may have travelled
across America and also have Japan in their sights, but nothing can compare to Southsea's Funfair: "We’re going down
later to have a go on the go karts and all that when we came here last time, we went down there, it’s boss!" (Info:
Sourced May 2003
Good Coral, Bad Charlotte The Coral have
allegedly been causing a bit of controversy by calling Good Charlotte (already huge in America) a "boy band with spikes".
The pop-punk band were not exactly phased by this and responded with: "The funny thing is we'd never even heard of The Coral.
We came over to London and someone says, 'This band, The Coral, they said that you guys are O-Town with spikey hair.'" "It's
kinda cheap to take a crack like that at a band who you've never met. They can say whatever they want- we're not going to
talk **** backabout them.It was pretty stupid." You can't exactly scorn The Coral for their comment You've gotta love controversy
haven't you?
THE CORAL PLAY TINY GIG
AT RADIO CITY THE CORAL played an intimate set for just 20 people on December 4th 2005, at the top of the RADIO CITY TOWER in the band's home
town of LIVERPOOL. An unusually subdued James Skelly, guitarists Lee Southall, and Bill Ryder-Jones, played three songs
for the small crowd of competition winners. The band played current single 'Bill McCai', 'Boy At The Window' from NME's
'Hanging With The Strokes' compilation CD and 'Magic And Medicine' album track 'Liezah'. The gig was also broadcast live
on air.
The band released 'Nightfreaks And The Sons Of Becker' on
January 26th 2006. The mini-album cost £7.99, and was limited to 75,000 copies.
PUB ROCK! The Coral surprised fans
last night when they played an impromptu gig in Bath (November 17).The band took time off from recording the follow-up
to this year’s 'Nightfreak And The Sons Of Becker’ at Bath Moles studio to run through a handful
of their greatest hits in The Porter Cellar Bar.Taking to the stage at around 10.30pm, singer James Skelly and
keyboardist Nick Power (who played guitar for the set) were also joined by a mystery guitar player. The group ran
through The Coral hits ’Dreaming Of You’, ’Pass It On’, ’Don’t Think
You’re The First’ and ’Bill McCai’ to a jam-packed crowd. The Coral are currently recording
their fourth studio album with Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley on production duties.
