Roller Trio-Mercury Music Prize nomination and forthcoming UK tour.

NEWS

Sunday, September 16, 2012

We have received the following press release regarding Roller Trio’s nomination for the 2012 Mercury Music Prize;

PRESS RELEASE

ROLLER TRIO: ‘ROLLER TRIO’

A Mercury Music Prize Album of The Year

“Dark, menacing, bass heavy - the new sound of UK jazzzzzzz!” Gilles Peterson, BBC 6 Music

“…the trio’s formidable playing and composing power suggest a very bright future.” The Guardian **** Stars

“What sets this young group apart is how often they favour melody over muscle. Memorable tunes such as R-O-R and Where’s My Whip will resonate with listeners who have never darkened a jazz club door” The Times **** Stars

“Sidesteps every pigeonhole, mingling rock back beats, Indian flavoured harmonies and film noir paciness…. A gleeful pleasure” Daily Telegraph **** Stars

Live: F-Ire Records Festival, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, October 20th

Live: Jazz In The Round The Cock Pit, London NW8 October 29th

Live: The Vortex, part of the London Jazz Festival, November 16th

(More live dates below)

Described as the ‘new sound of UK Jazz’ by Gilles Peterson, Roller Trio is the latest band to explode out of the fertile Leeds music scene where experimental jazz rubs shoulders with DIY alt rock and electronica. Their music is a fresh, visceral stew of conventional and experimental sounds that features stonking riffs, thrashy noise, evocative songs and electronic soundscapes. Incubated in mammoth improvisation sessions and honed in local gigs, their music is delivered with a captivating swagger and greedy energy that is utterly beguiling and packs a hook-laden punch. Little wonder then that they have already snaffled the 2011 Peter Whittingham Jazz Award for 2011, as well as causing a real stir amongst local club promoters who have praised their powerhouse live shows. One smitten promoter declared “I have NEVER seen a jazz act appeal so vehemently to a non-jazz audience in my life” and another hailed them as ‘My New favourite band of 2012… Killing!” Not bad for a band whose members are still in their early ‘20s and have only been together for little over a year.

Their self-titled debut album is a gripping, aural rollercoaster ride, opening with Deep Heat, a powerhouse riff of a tune, funky and hard edged, before giving way to the bewitching, evocative Rollertoaster and the punchy, hooky Howdy Saudi. Other highlights include stonking The Nail That Stands Up, the echoey sadness of A Dark Place To Think, the rollicking The Interrupters and thoughtful softly anthemic ROR and heir use of electronics gives their music a muscular sonic edge and febrile funkiness that makes this music for the heart, head and feet.

“With musicianship, dynamics, bravado and focus well beyond their years, The Roller Trio’s debut album has taken this listeners breath away. Catch their powerful live performance for further proof of a band destined for greatness”
Mike Chadwick, Jazz FM

“Every now and then you see a band and think, wow this lot have really got it. For such a young band they are ridiculously accomplished - there’s hundreds of hours of playing together behind their super-tight sound and quiet confidence. Roller Trio have a nasty bite but their catchy bark will get you in the end”. Jez Nelson Jazz on 3, BBC Radio 3

“Minutes into their set at the BBC Introducing session at the 2012 Manchester Jazz Festival, the snappy, sparky young Leeds-based trio had the venue bobbing. Their debut exerts a similar appeal, right from its opening salvo Deep Heat, as drummer Luke Reddin-Williams, guitarist Luke Wynter and tenor saxophonist James Mainwaring create trance by way of rhythm. “ BBC.co.uk

“The trio can switch the feel of a tune in a heartbeat from edgy improv to anthemic power riffs to reverb-swamped note storms”. The Arts Desk

“The sheer variety, power and energy of the nine tracks on this compelling album immediately impress”. Chris Parker London Jazz Blog

“I was very impressed by Roller Trio. Reminded of my first encounters with Wayne Krantz and trioVD. Visceral and highly charged”. Mike Butler MEN/Rock and Reel

“Epic rock-edge riffs, angular sax explorations, brooding beats and haunting dub-step style electronics..” Jazzwise

“Roller Trio is an album full of interesting ideas that are realised with restraint and conviction, never fully making the leap from jazz to rock, but instead inhabiting its own little space in between” Nowthen Magazine

“As far from the “ting-tata-ting” school of jazz as can be… Soaring sax over buzzsaw guitar riffs built on looped melody and angular drumbeats”. Livenotes YLMP

Roller Trio are James Mainwairing tenor sax and electronics, Luke Wynter guitar and Luke Reddin-Williams on drums and the three met whilst studying at Leeds College of Music. Luke W and Luke RW were the first to jam together, but when they began playing and jamming together as a trio and it became immediately apparent that they had chemistry. In their minds they only really became a ‘proper band’ when they were called in at the last minute to support Phronesis at the Brudenell Social club in Leeds in March 2011. Influenced by a wide range of music from Tim Berne, Chris Potter and Anthony Braxton to Queens of the Stone Age, Soundgarden, Slum Village, J Dilla and Flying Lotus, as well as the vibrant local scene, they also name check contemporary bands such as Heernt, trioVD, Animals as Leaders and Siriusmo. However, it is their own invigorating mix of rock riffs, angular drums, electronic loops and James powerful tone and use of circular breathing and multiphonics mark them out as a powerful new band in their own right – one with their own unique voice.

Roller Trio write their songs by recording improvisations and ‘developing the bits they like’, it’s an ‘on the fly method’ which gives their music a compelling immediacy. Each member has their own input when they compose, either in the form of an idea that they bring with them, or just something that is played and works straight away in the moment and then becomes part of the tune. Tunes can even be written and finalised within the space of a few hours - The Nail That Stands Up was written in just over two hours and performed at a gig the very same night. It’s this reliance on what ‘feels right’ over any more traditional compositional process that gives their music such a powerful impetus. It’s this drive that saw the band send a tape of their first concert to the F-IRE label, who then promptly invited them to release an album. It is also this impetus that gives the debut album an energy and freshness that is set to win the band fans from way beyond the jazz and experimental music world.

Live dates across the UK
Sept 19 Prohibition, Leeds
Sept 23 Lancaster Jazz Festival
Oct 13 Marsden Jazz Festival
Oct 20 F-IRE Festival, Pizza Express Jazz Club, London
Oct 29 The Cockpit, London
Oct 30 Matt and Phreds, Manchester

The full list of Mercury nominees is;

Alt-J ‘An Awesome Wave’
Ben Howard ‘Every Kingdom’
Django Django ‘Django Django’
Field Music ‘Plumb’
Jessie Ware ‘Devotion’
Lianne La Havas ‘Is Your Love Big Enough?’
Michael Kiwanuka ‘Home Again’
The Maccabees ‘Given to the Wild’
Plan B ‘Ill Manors’
Richard Hawley ‘Standing at the Sky’s Edge’
Roller Trio ‘Roller Trio’
Sam Lee ‘Ground of its Own’