With the “Empty Faces” single scheduled for a summer 2008 release Edinburgh-based Underbelly are set to win even more hearts and minds with their epic tunes. The 2005 single “Come In to Land” earned the band gigs with Nizlopi, Cosmic Rough Riders, The Hedrons and Grim Northern Social as the EP won acclaim in the press, notably in this review from The Daily Record:
“Come in to Land has the same kind of quiet and loud bits beloved of Gary Lightbody. There are heavy rock guitars and soft folk guitars. After hundreds of Franz Ferdinand copycat bands it’s great to hear a band following the success of Lightbody and co.”
Underbelly have enjoyed attention from radio, press and TV on both sides of the Irish sea with the band’s strong Northern Irish/Scottish mixture. Radio 1 Scotland and Northern Ireland, Downtown and XFM Scotland have all taken the band on board with previous single earning the band a winning slot on Vic Galloway’s (Radio 1 Scotland) Demo Derby and Jim Gellatly’s (XFM Scotland) ‘Exposure’ feature.
Underbelly have walked the T-Break stage two years in a row in 2005 and 2006 as finalists selected from over 1,000 Scottish band entries.
Plans for an album are already underway with the final stages of a mini Scottish tour being ironed out. The band will hopefully be performing in places such as Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Inverness, Shetland and of course Edinburgh. A show in Londo and a trip across the Irish sea for a Belfast show alater in the year will hopefully raise the band's profile this year.
With the release of the “Empty Faces” (formerly called Alive Again) single will surely point their powerful heartfelt music in the direction of the charts in 2008.
"Alive Again by Underbelly
With this forthcoming single, which you can hear on their MySpace page, Edinburgh-based Underbelly have done it again with another epic tune. The lads have walked the T-Break stage two years in a row in 2005 and 2006, as finalists selected from over 1,000 Scottish band entries. Now it looks as if they're ready to stand on their own feet.
Gary Flockhart – Evening News (June 08)"
"Underbelly
Alive Again (self-released)
With singer-songwriters like Blunty and James Morrisson ten-a-penny and still pretty poor value for money, the importance of the band in fleshing out songs has been undervalued of late. And while it’s not clear how much the songwriting in Underbelly is a band effort, certainly the opening chords and verse on ‘Alive Again’ pretty much check the boxes for tunesmithery and light, delicate chart-friendly pop. However, wait for the chorus and the unprepared may have their roofs blown off - turning a slightly folky tune into a slow-building Snow Patrol-eqsue epic that would fit a stadium better than a folk club.
Is This Music (July 08)"
