The Ace! "Next Time Around" & "Another Top Pop!"

As I wrote in my recent feature on Swedish band The Movements, I love it when a band has actually checked out the Blog a bit before sending in their music, and I love it when that music is something that really makes me sit up and take notice. That's what happened when Leeds based garage rockin' trio, The Ace! got in touch and I was mightily impressed with the tracks I heard. The band then very kindly despatched their brand new album "Next Time Around", which has been released on their own label "We Dig This!". The album consists of twelve tracks, a collection of their two previous released E.P.s, "Attack Of The Ace" and "Advance of The Ace", together with four previously unreleased songs. It's certainly an energetic up-beat record, positively bursting at the seams with some mighty fine good time Rock 'n' Roll. Actually, I wasn't kidding when I said it was bursting at the seams, the material is so strong that it can't be contained and has spilled over into an additional three-track bonus E.P. "Another Top Pop!", that comes free with the album.

The band certainly draws on many influences, sometimes conjuring up the raw enthusiasm of Hamburg-era Beatles, or what I imagine a packed and smoky Cavern Club in the Sixties would have been like. Yes, although these are Yorkshire boys, there are definite nods to the thumping Mersey Beat sound, of say, The Dave Clark Five's immense "Glad All Over". There are also strains of American bands such as Beau Brummels and The Knickerbockers, who admittedly were also heavily influenced by that Liverpool scene. They can take the softer approach of The Searchers or The Left Banke but mainly belt out fizzing bubblegum pop. There are also some raw Soul stompers in the vein of their contemporaries The Woggles, and the full throttle garage rock energy of The Len Price 3. The band are made up of Dynamite Daz Lee Parkinson on drums, Nige B-Side Spencer on Bass and Vocals and Jonny Magus Wilson on Guitar and Vocals. They seem to be causing a stir in the States, picking up lots of air-play on influential radio shows such as Bill Kelly's Teenage Wasteland, Mike Murray's Whole Lotta Shakin', WLUW Chicago's Razor & Die and Mr Suave's Mod World in Seattle. Back over this side of the pond they have been played on Radio 6Towns Glory Boy show, Cabin Radio's Curiosity Shop and featured in Heavy Soul fanzine and Happening Magazine. You can buy the album, check out and contact the band at their Facebook or MySpace pages.

Here's a great track "Oh Yeah!", that is as good as any song I've heard all year.

Oh Yeah by The Ace (UK)

Photos courtesy of The Ace!