Everyone loves a good rising from the flames story, and Famous Villains are the perfect example. Various members of the Doncaster five-piece had a fairly traumatic experience with their old manager, who promised the world and abandoned them in Heathrow Airport with no tickets to be seen.
After reeling from the experience of working with a conman, Famous Villains were formed in 2011. Consisting of vocalist Anthony Lindley, guitarist Neil Smith, Tobin James on piano, keyboards and vocals, bassist Jarrad Kirk and drummer/vocalist Chris Autey, the band know what they want and theyâre going to get it (with the help of a new, much improved management team).
The music itself is hard to describe: soulful, melodic and a little bit of indie rock ânâ roll with a slice of folk thrown in the mix. Regardless of genre, itâs straight up great music, and these boys have bucketloads of undeniable talent. So much so in fact that when they played a gig at St Pancras Station recently they sold out of all the singles they brought with them. And in this day and age of most people expecting their music for free on the internet, this is no easy feat.
âIf weâd known we wouldâve had a lot more printed off and we couldâve made a lot of money, but you live and learn,â says frontman Ant Lindley. âWe used a sob story â we were parked in the NCP, ÂŁ12 an hour. It obviously worked.â
Despite their modesty, Famous Villains have already had their music played on Hollyoaks and Emmerdale, and if theyâve already had their songs on prime time TV without the backing of a label, itâs almost certain theyâll go far.
They havenât even begun to think about recording an album yet â right now theyâre focusing on playing their songs live and winning people over slowly but surely.
âWe wanna build our fanbase first. Youâve got the whole of your life to release your first album. If we win one person over that night, weâve done our job. And then if they go away and talk about you, itâs great,â says Ant.
It helps that the band have a blooming excellent promo picture – the best thing about it is that their manager took it on his iPhone. âWe had some promo photos done but they didnât capture anything, and then our manager took a picture of us walking down the street on his iPhone, and bang! He was like David Bailey with that phone.â
Famous Villains have the look (they make no effort to look that cool), the talent and the songs, so itâs only a matter of time until you start seeing them hit the big time. Keep your eyes and ears out, because they might just be massive.
Find out more on their Facebook and official website.
LAIS MW