our feature for today’s Just The Crust is the brand new single from Andrew Bradley “Sleepwalking” which came out last week!
this is the first single from his new album and it sets the stage for it so beautifully – a really well-crafted song, so much detail in there, you can really tell how much care and attention has been put into every aspect of the song here.
the song starts with an indie-rock jangly feel, yet as it drops into the verse it becomes almost ethereal, with a huge dream-pop atmosphere with the spacey keys, Andrew’s vocal gliding softly across the top of the instruments and just a real lovely soundscape of gorgeous tones here. as it opens up, it shows the real sensitivity and intimacy conveyed by the lyrics and puts him as a songwriter who is able to not only conjure up fantastic imagery with his words, but also puts his feelings and emotions directly on his sleeve for the listener to connect with.
we absolutely love this track, it’s a real pleasure to listen to and as we stated before, it’s been crafted so well, the production is on point – definitely a tune to pop on when you’re up for a nice relaxed time. not only that, we’ve heard the album in full as well, and you guys are in store for a gorgeous listen, so many fantastic tracks – easily a 4/5 star release from the North-East based songwriter.
our feature for today’s Just The Crust is the brand new single from Hayden J Barlow “Night Combat” out this coming Thursday 1st Sept!
we’ve covered plenty of Hayden’s music in the past and had him perform for us a bunch, an incredibly talented chap with so many tunes under his belt. it’s well worth catching him perform at a gig, his guitar work is incredible and with such a fantastic voice on him too.
this new single has him delving into more punchy, rock-driven music yet with the lovely electronic production that we saw on his earlier releases – following the feel and atmosphere of his previous two singles “Breakaway” and “persona non grata” of which we loved both of them! throughout the track the atmosphere is perfectly portrayed within his vocal delivery, really putting the listener in his shoes and relating so well.
the chorus is absolutely huge, with massive harmonies, distorted and autotuned backing vocals which only add to the massiveness of the track. a real testament to his production talent and musical ability – definitely one to check out, another in a long line of fantastic releases from him.
we’re super stoked to be able to bring you an exclusive review of the new tune from Sleeping Together, “Summer Girl” which comes out on all platforms tomorrow! 🤘
we had these chaps perform for us back earlier in the summer at The Grafton Arms, as part of our Toasted gig and they absolutely blew us away with their talent, songwriting and just how well they all gelled with one another performing. they played for us under their previous persona “Whatever The Weather” and we’re so made up to be able to have a lil sneak preview listen to the new tune ahead of it’s release. 😎
they’ve been hard at work over the past few months, recording and writing and you can tell right from the get go that this track is sure to be a real indie anthem. opening up with a cool and dreamy guitar lick, the track flows so well into the first verse, where the main vocal soars effortlessly over the rhythm of the track – a real calm and collected delivery, invoking lovely imagery that the listener can get lost in. as it comes into the pre-chorus, the track builds softly and carefully, yet there’s a real sense of urgency relating to the lyrics that works so well together. ☀️ opening up into the chorus, it’s a real sing-a-long hook that we can only imagine would be belted out from audiences all over at their gigs. we especially love the last line, “the sun it never sets so tell me why should I?” – a real celebration of the joys of the season and the memories that last for a lifetime.
as it comes into the second chorus, the prowess of the songwriting here really shows itself – you realise that the first verse is written from one perspective, and then the second verse is a response to that perspective; fantastic talent to be able to do this and really shows off their talent here as lyricists! as it comes to its conclusion in the outro, we love the controlled explosion of distortion and extended fills, stops and the such which really give the track the ending it deserves. amazing stuff from these chaps! ⚡️
we’ve got our next Knead To Know interview for you all with the amazing up-and-coming Manchester rock outfit Luna Marble! ⚡️
over the past year or so, they’ve been making waves performing across the city and dazzling audiences with their huge sound, belting riffs and incredible stage presence – we love their debut single “Running” and their latest tune “All of My Love” only shows off their talent and prowess even more!
you can find our full interview below! ⬇️
Hey guys! Thanks for doing this interview for us. Tell us a bit about yourselves!
We are Luna Marble, a 4 piece hard rock 70s-inspired band from Manchester! We have often been described to have anthemic, stadium-ready songs with big choruses, relentless riffs and hard-hitting grooves, although that is for you to decide!
How did you start the band?
Believe it or not Maria, our lead singer, had many of our songs already written and she was always in the hunt of the perfect band to bring them to life. David (bass) and Sean (Drums) went to the same university as Maria, and they had previously participated in different sessions recording/ performing ensembles together prior to our band. However it wasn’t until we met Dragos, our guitarist, that this formation happened to be. Maria and Dragos started hanging out at the beginning of the first lockdown and their shared passion for music led them to start jamming out and writing songs together. Eventually we asked David and Sean to have a jam with us and the rest is history….
We’ve seen you performing all across Manchester, what have been your favourite gigs?
We have to say that every time we have performed at Gullivers or Castle Hotel, it has been great! We are lucky as well to have very supportive friends and fan base that always bring a good party to our shows and it’s great to see how little by little our following keeps on growing making each gig very special for us!
What do you enjoy most about performing live? Is it the atmosphere, the crowd, getting to play some tunes?
Many things! It’s a combination of the excitement of finally sharing what we have been working on and the feedback from the crowd making us play harder and louder! It’s such a unique atmosphere, unique to the moment, and we are out there living out our dreams, we wouldn’t want to do anything else.
You’ve just released your second single “All Of My Love” – we love it, and your first one was also an absolute banger. Tell us a bit more about the tune!
As previously mentioned Maria had some of our songs written prior to the band. The riff came to her back when she was 17 and has been through so many arrangements and bands until our current formation. Dragos definitely took the riff and made it his own, combined with Sean and David’s solid grooves gave the song the right energy it needed.
The song is supposed to be empowering, with raging vocals and a playful instrumental releasing into big choruses, giving the perfect supercharged rock and roll anthem.
What are your main inspirations for your songs?
70s music from bands like Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac or Pink Floyd definitely play a big influence on us, especially in Maria’s approach to melodies, songwriting and arrangement. However, we all come from different backgrounds. Dragos coming from a more Prog-rock background makes his solos and rhythm playing up to virtuoso standards. Davids brings a lot of solid groovy bass lines and fills from bands like Royal Blood or Muse. And finally Sean’s hard-hitting drumming approach, from bands like Metallica.
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How do you write? Do you take a group approach to it, or is it mostly one person who writes the songs?
Our writing dynamic has changed a lot during the time we have been a band. Maria had many unfinished ideas which she developed with Dragos, or Maria would pick on riff idea from Dragos and we would both sit and make a rough demo on Cubase, that we would later workshop in our band rehearsals. However as time has gone by we definitely jam together more and try to build a song from scratch all together, which makes the process more enjoyable and makes us closer as a band!
Where do you record? Have you got a home studio?
We were lucky that Maria was in the recording and production degree in uni, so we made most of our recording at uni, engineered by herself. However we are branching out to try different things and recently started working with Alex Miller who helps us in the process!
What do you think is the main thing that each of the band members bring to the table?
Each member brings their own unique qualities to the band. Maria is a very creative person, she comes up with all sorts of ideas for songs, arrangements, decorations for gigs, recording techniques and many more. More often than not the dynamic in the band is the boys putting together the ‘crazy frenzy’ of Maria’s ideas.
Where does the name “Luna Marble” come from?
Funnily enough it took us a good half a year to settle on a name… Dragos had in mind something to do with ‘marble’ because of it being a white rock he thought it would be appropriate for our rock style. Also its white colour suited a female fronted band he thought as well. Maria wanted to have some sort of cosmic reference in there as well and it was David who came up with the idea of using ‘luna’ (moon) as part of the name. We finally settled on Luna Marble after a long process of trial and error.
There’s a lot of classic rock within your tracks, but what kinds of other music inspire you?
Many more, as we said above Dragos grew up listening to a lot of prog and metal so there’s that influence (even if more subtle) and Sean loves his metal as well especially Metallica. There’s certainly a more modern influence as well coming from the big 4 grunge bands up until modern-day Muse and Royal Blood.
How was the single launch on the 17th August?
It was great, thank you! It was nice to put our own event at Gullivers again, and bring everyone together to celebrate a night full of great music! The support bands were incredible, we had a new set and a surprise guest on the organ. We couldn’t have asked for a better night and we got a bit creative with the stage, which looked amazing!
Is there anything else in the works?
There is always something else in the works! We have many songs already written and we are working on releasing as much of them as we can. However we have been toying with the idea of an Ep for a while… All I can stay is stay tuned into what we are up to because we are always pushing our creativity further and further….
it was brilliant to chat to the band here, we’ve been huge fans of their music since we heard their debut single, and their set for us over at The Grafton Arms during the summer for our Toasted night was absolutely breathtaking. ☀️ we’re sure that they’ll be making huge movements with the release of new music and more gigs – if you’re able to catch them live, it’s well worth it. a big thank you to them for partaking in this interview, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! 🍞
our feature for today’s Just The Crust is the brand new release from the Manchester grunge outfit Mort Jardin “Dead Season“!
we’ve covered these guy’s previous releases a bunch now and we love their melodic, grungey tones that are present all the way through their tunes. their previous releases really set the tone for their music with introspective lyricism, monotonous vocals that really set the mood for their music.
this latest release sees them open up their sound somewhat, with some less distortion-y backdrops, yet still maintaining their original sound with huge guitar solos throughout and a real tight rhythmic background to tie the songs together! this is some of their best work yet, you can see the evolution of the band through their releases and this is well worth a listen for any fans of alternative and heavier tunes.
in case you missed it, we had a real lovely time chatting to The Distance for our Knead To Know feature last week!
the lads are a force to be reckoned with on the Manchester scene, having gone from strength to strength and really making a name for themselves – they’ve got some proper bangers under their belt.
our feature for today’s Just The Crust is the latest single from Jacob Reddy Music “Brand New”! you could say it’s… brand new
we’re huge fans of Jacob’s music, blending pop, indie and rock in such a unique way to create a top sound for himself – plus, having collaborated with Novustory on the last tune he’s going places and making waves! class stuff from the young Lancastrian lad.
this new tune expands on his sound, with a real fantastic knack to songwriting, being able to create a great hook whilst maintaining introspective and intricate lyricism that can really resonate with the listener. the upbeat nature of the track lends itself so well to the feel of the song, we can proper imagine this one being a great singalong one. the gang vocal in the final chorus also gives it such a pop-punk feel, showing so much inspiration to his music and how he’s able to take from different sources to create!
we’re back with our next Knead To Know interview, this time with the fantastic Manchester-based band The Distance! 🤘
we’ve known these lads for a while now, they’ve been making waves on the music scene, performing and coming down to gigs each week – real lovely chaps with a proper determination to get involved and play their tunes. they’ve got some proper bangers under their belt as well, we can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store and this interview has been lovely way to find out more about their plans! 😊
you can find the full interview below! ⬇️
You’ve been all over the Manchester music scene for the past year or so – how have you found it? What have you been up to?
Everything started from playing Manchester open mics. We’ve seen so many great musicians and bands who’ve pushed and inspired us to write more music for our band. Many of these open mics have given us further gig opportunities, allowing us to play at venues such as Lions Den, Aatma, and The Empire in Rochdale, as well as multiple independent festivals.
We’ve seen you go from predominantly a two-piece to a full band, how different is it performing with a band and what’s the best thing about it?
The Distance originally existed as a three piece, before Sam joined as the lead guitarist. It was then when we started playing local open mics to help promote our band’s music. Having a lead guitarist in the band gave us more options to include guitar parts, melodies and guitar solos in our songs. We prefer playing as a full band whenever possible, because the energy a full band creates can never fully be replicated as an acoustic duo.
What are your main inspirations for your songs?
We’ve all got different personal influences as musicians, but when these influences are combined as a band, we feel it helps to create a unique sound for our songs. If we were to give one band that has influenced us the most it would be The Stereophonics – who have really helped to shape our sound as a band.
How do you write? Do you take a group approach to it, or is it mostly one person who writes the songs?
We have tried multiple different methods of song writing, which we feel helps to really keep us inspired creatively. Most recently, Jack and Sam have found a song idea, recorded a demo, and brought it into a band rehearsal for Rhys and Aaron to help complete the song.
Over the past few years, how have you been spending your time musically? (recording, writing etc)
The band originally started when Jack met Rhys at college. When they moved to University in Manchester, Jack asked Rhys to dep for a gig and Rhys joined The Distance full time shortly after. Jack and Sam then met at an open mic night in Manchester, and Sam completed the line-up in 2021. Regarding music outside of the band, Rhys releases his own music under the name ‘Serene’ and Sam released an album during Lockdown followed by a number of singles. As a full band we have been writing new songs together, as well as working on new covers to add to our setlist. We have recently recorded a new single which will be released in the near future.
We’ve seen you popping up on bills all across Manchester and beyond now – whereabouts have you been gigging?
We have played many venues in Manchester over the past 6 months, and have started to venture outside of the city to venues in places such as Leeds and North Wales. More recently, we have been talking to promoters in London and Liverpool in order to expand our fanbase around the UK.
When you’re performing live, what do you each find best about it?
Sam – The thing I like the most about performing live is the adrenaline rush you get from seeing the audience’s reaction.
Jack – The thing I like most about performing on stage is being able to bring to life songs that both I and the band have written. We thrive off the positive feedback but also the constructive criticism helps to push us further.
Aaron – I get to play my drums.
Rhys – The best thing about performing live is getting to play gigs at new venues and getting out with the rest of the band in new places. (Also having a drummer deafen me every weekend before we’ve even started playing).
Where do you record? Have you got a home studio?
We record demos at each others houses and sometimes send files or record our parts remotely. We just recorded our upcoming single at Through The Roof Recording Studio.
You guys have got some real bangers, we’ve heard your tunes so many times now and they never get old. What kinds of music inspire you?
The thing about writing your own music is that it’s difficult to imagine people actually wanting to hear your band’s songs again and again (no pun intended). It’s hard to believe that so many people like yourself back our music and what we do as a band – and we appreciate everyone who comes down to our gigs (we never forget a face or a name). We’ve worked so hard to constantly be present in the music scene so it’s no surprise why people have heard our songs so many times. As far as influences go, we all have our own different inspirations such as Punk, Indie and Rock, which as mentioned before, we aim to merge these to create our own unique sound as a band.
Have you got any plans for new music at any point soon?
We have just finished recording our new single ‘Falling’, which we are in the final process of announcing. Our plans after this are to release another single, which will hopefully be followed by an EP.
Have you got anything else planned for 2022?
We have several gigs already booked for the rest of 2022, including The Royal George in Todmorden (20th August), Gulliver’s (27th August), Off The Square (8th October) and of course at Lion’s Den with Bread Records on the 12th of November. Any new gig dates will be announced on our Facebook or Instagram, along with the release of our new single ‘Falling’.
it’s fantastic to be able to chat with these guys here, learn more about their influences and what they’ve got planned – we can’t wait to see what’s in store for them! it’s been fantastic to see them grow over the past year, performing at bigger and more places across the country. well worth catching them live! a big thank you to Jack, Sam, Rhys and Aaron for this interview – let us know what you think! 🍞
our feature for today’s Just The Crust is the brand new album “Love Songs and Laments” from Blacksheeplad!
we’ve covered Phil’s music a load now and his relaxed, introspective songs are lovely to listen to – many of his songs are about his personal experiences and it’s lovely to hear them! we’ve had him perform for us a few times and it’s always great to have him on.
this new album, released through Wobbly Music, only expands on his great collection of songs – you can really hear the progression and evolution of his songwriting, with songs like the opener “Homeland” which is a calm and mellow tune about his childhood town, and then the eerie and haunting sound of “Pantomime” with violins and more of a full band sound behind Phil and his ukulele. it’s a real great listen and well worth checking out!
you can find his music on all streaming sites – Spotify is at https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Pqy48o3FVvpwo4j3N0QvX… – and he’s also uploaded a load of acoustic videos to his YouTube in preparation for the release as well!
find all of our features, reviews, music and more on our website at www.breadrecords.co.uk
we’re back with our July edition of The Wrap! 👊 there’s been so many incredible releases over the past month, with bands and artists making waves with new music. it’s so brilliant to see! we’ve wrote up a few lil reviews of some of our faves, you can find them all below! ⬇️
Another huge release from Scotland’s Pizza Crunch, “Wilting Youth” expands on their already huge sound encapsulated within their previous releases – maintaining that cool, collected vibe, huge riffs and steady rhythm to provide lovely sonic scenery for the buttery main vocal to slide through. 🍃 a real summery indie/alt anthem here, the guitar riffs are gorgeous and sound so lush, and as it opens up into that dreamy bridge, we love the atmosphere around it, really sets the scene for the remainder of the tune and the explosivity of the outro/final chorus makes this a tune to be put on repeat all through the summer. (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / BANDCAMP / YOUTUBE)
One of our favourites on the North West scene, The Empire Police returned with an absolutely huge track “Tell England We Don’t Know“! Opening with a huge gang vocal, a real cinematic intro it really shows the ferocity of this tune. The verses are a gorgeous contrast, mellow and calmed; yet lyrically poetic and beautiful – suddenly becoming direct and aggressive and oh so political, distortion crackling at the sidelines and the rhythm becoming more and more chaotic and brutal… exploding into that huge chorus! 👊 the bridge is a relentless rant at the state of the country, the socio-political climate and oh so spot on. Lyrically, it’s a beautiful middle finger towards the political part of the country – so eloquently put, but with no holds barred. Probably our favourite release from them yet! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / YOUTUBE)
Lancashire-based indie outfit The Forensics have just put out their newest single “Change My Mind“! Opening up with some synthy/dream-pop-esque ambience, it sounds fantastic from the get go. As it flows into that first verse, the rhythm kicks in and really gives it a deserved groove, and as it opens up into the chorus we can imagine this is gonna be a huge sing-a-long hit for them at gigs and that. 👊 the guitar solo sits perfectly after the first chorus, staying reserved but pushing melodies all over the track and sounding fantastic. We can’t wait to hear more from these! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)
South Wales based RATOON released their second single “What Do They Know“! A brill tune with an honest and relatable story behind it (the video portrays this so well and it’s perfect for the track!) it sounds great, fast-paced punky indie feel here which you can never go wrong with. ☀️ it’d go off live, we can imagine it sounding huge! With a catchy chorus, anthemic fast paced vibes, we’re sure RATOON are gonna be making waves! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / YOUTUBE)
Pop/soul extraordinaire James Reid has returned with his brand new single “LYING“! Opening up with a massive EDM influence, the track soars into the first verse with a real smooth groove to it, the drums give it such a good feeling and James’ vocal sits so well within it. As it comes into the chorus the bassline drives it so well, a fantastically written hook and such a smooth and gorgeous vocal on this too. Unreal stuff here, such a good energy to the track and definitely one to put on repeat. We love the production, it’s honest and heartfelt storytelling and just a proper banger! Well worth a listen! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)
The fantastic We Three Kings have their new tune “The Criminal” out! First off, that riff is absolutely gorgeous. From the start it’s huge, you can hear how tight the band is here and they’re able to craft such a huge sounding track. Vocals here are on point too, absolutely belting it out – a real catchy tune that is just gonna go mental at any live setting. 🤘 we love the energy of the bridge, changing up a bit, opening up and culminating in a massive sound! Well worth a listen, plus their back catalogue is well tasty. Plenty to sink your teeth into! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / BANDCAMP / YOUTUBE)
Manchester-based Roukaya B put out this absolute banger of a tune this month, “The Sauce“! With unreal production, a proper feel-good vibe with such a groove behind it – one to reyt blast out during these sunny days. She’s able to effortlessly flow between her rapping and singing, utilising both to glide over the track so seamlessly, and her lyricism is class, telling her story with such imagery and confidence! Perfectly balancing her energy with the atmosphere of the track, well worth having a gander at! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC / YOUTUBE)
Manchester-based singer-songwriter jamie henry has just dropped his second release, “don’t leave“! A familiar face on the Manchester circuit – this tune sounds fantastic, so effortlessly delicate and raw, yet you can hear the pure passion and effort that’s gone into the writing of this. 🌛 the soft ambience in the background is gorgeous, the guitar licks accompanied by the backing vocals sound so massive and really bring the song to life. the build up throughout is great, climaxing in that final section with such a dreamy atmosphere – we feel like there may be some Phoebe Bridgers influence in there… plus, a b-side that is hauntingly beautiful. Can’t wait to hear more! (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)
bloomin’ heck, yet another great month of music for us all up North. we’ve covered such a fantastic range here, so many different genres and varieties but so so much incredible talent on offer. this is why we love it! we hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as we have – big love to everyone who’s checked this out. ❤️
Make sure you head on down to open mics, gigs, support local music and arts and keep your scenes going! 😊 all music, videos and images remain copyright of their respective owners. 🍞
throughout the track the atmosphere is perfectly portrayed within his vocal delivery, really putting the listener in his shoes and relating so well. 
Bread Records 