"We are fundamentally responsible for the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America, yes," say Brakes. "If it hadn't been for our 5-second epic song "Cheney" (lyrics: "Cheney, Cheney, Cheney, stop being such a Dick"), then it is without a doubt that McCain would've won, and died, and Sarah Palin would have become President and Ruler of the Known Universe by April 2009. We would've been releasing our new album "Touchdown" into a world in the grip of a nuclear winter, with no electricity for people to listen to the CD, and no Internet for them to download it from. We would still have toured it, though," they all agree, nodding their heads, "on acoustic guitars...
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"We are fundamentally responsible for the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America, yes," say Brakes. "If it hadn't been for our 5-second epic song "Cheney" (lyrics: "Cheney, Cheney, Cheney, stop being such a Dick"), then it is without a doubt that McCain would've won, and died, and Sarah Palin would have become President and Ruler of the Known Universe by April 2009. We would've been releasing our new album "Touchdown" into a world in the grip of a nuclear winter, with no electricity for people to listen to the CD, and no Internet for them to download it from. We would still have toured it, though," they all agree, nodding their heads, "on acoustic guitars and a drum kit pushed in shopping trolleys. We have built up a live reputation over the past 6 years and nearly 1000 gigs. Yes, even in a world destroyed by the total collapse of reason, we would've toured our music."
Brakes, for those who don't know, or don't have access to Wikipedia, formed in late 2002 with the immortal words "let's form a band." Four friends from Brighton, UK, they went into a practise room that night, played through some songs Eamon had written on acoustic guitar, and afterwards said "we are the most radstation band ever to have graced this planet; it's like we're a blend of punk, folk and country, like a blend of Johnny Cash, the Clash, the Pixies and Woody Guthrie; it's like we have been influenced by Sunn O))), RTX, the Beatles and Pavement. It's like we..." and then they went on and on and on about bands.
Brakes were signed by Rough Trade Records, and released their debut album "Give Blood" in 2005. Rough Trade Shop voted it the Number 1 album of the year, OMM magazine gave it 5*, and Brakes went on tour for a very, very long time, supporting Belle and Sebastian, Buck 65, and Editors, as well as many, many, headline tours of their own.
Rough Trade Records had released Brakes' first two albums, but was unsure whether it could afford to release Brakes' third in the credit crunch. Brakes went on the lookout for a new home, and, like a dream come true, found one in their hometown, with the highly esteemed Brighton-based label Fat Cat. Almost instantly, Fat Cat booked them into the Glasgow super studio Chem 19, with The Delgados' Paul Savage at the helm. They recorded and mixed the album in a month, then flew to upstate New York to master it with the legend Alan Douches.
"It's our best yet," say Brakes, "we're really happy with the way it came together and the sounds that were caught in Chem 19," say Brakes, before quickly adding: "Touchdown is the zenith of civilisation, it will make your jaw drop further than the Dow Jones in 2008."
Only time will tell how far Brakes can change the world this time.
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