Formed in the late autumn of 2008, Church & Destroy are an Acoustic Rock group, hailing from the Brecon/Herefordshire area. Taking their name from the discarded title of Alkaline Trio's 2005 effort 'Crimson', C&D aim to combine the melodic influences of acts like Secondhand Serenade, with the dark lyrics of Alkaline Trio.

The duo, Daniel Smith (vocals), and Calvin Duggan (guitar) have recently released their EP. The offering, titled 'For The Family' includes five original compositions, and two covers.

The title of the EP is admittedly unusual. Smith explains: "Well, 'The Family' was the name of Charles Manson's cult, and prior to coming up with a name, I happened to be reading up a lot about him (for those who want more, read 'Helter Skelter'). The EP isn't named in honour of them, I'm not trying to glamorise what they did, but I do believe Manson was a very clever man. If you can get people to believe you are the second coming of Christ, then you are an expert at manipulation." Rather, the EP is named for the members of The Family, and with a subtitle of "A Tale of Love, Depression, Hope and Obsession" it may make people more aware of the mastery that this man had.

"Each emotion in the subtitle relates to a song on the EP" Says Smith "Love (She), Depression (Cry), Hope (Eyes), and Obsession (For The Girl I'll Never Get), and each song is an outpouring of that emotion." The remaining song, 'The Prisoner', refers to Manson, specifically in the line "I am Jesus to some, I am nothing to all".

As for the covers, Matt Skiba's 'Demons Away' and Joe Purdy's 'Wash Away', they were included to show that the band has a range of different influences... It is down to coincidence that both songs happen to have 'away' in the title.

Since the EP was released, positive feedback has been flooding in from everywhere. "It’s always nice to read messages saying 'Your EP spread like wildfire around here' or 'why the hell aren't you guys on a label yet?'" says Smith. "It’s also very surprising to have musicians I admire sending their thoughts. I'd be satisfied if only one person liked it, but all the nice things that have been said are really, really great."

For The Family was released on January 24th

Church & Destroy are currently looking for gigs and are writing and demoing for their next release

To contact Church & Destroy, message them via the myspace (www.myspace.com/churchdestroymusic)