Orphan Boy

Today in a radio broadcast from the BBC 6 Music Festival, there was a discussion going on about the difficulty of labelling bands and their music. A special mention was made, in how far for instance Newcastle bands have it easier than Manchester bands to break free from the city’s musical history.

A story Orphan Boy are only too well acquainted with: Originally from Cleethorpes and then moving to the big shmoke of Manchester, they were pegged as a “lad band” for maybe as little as the clothes they wore.

This happened to Rob Cross, Paul Smith and Chris Day right after the release of their first album “Shop Local”. Good for them that they gathered a following during their live gigs that is fiercely loyal to them and carries the lovely name of Orphanites.

They also luckily have a record company that believes in them and supports them with Concrete Recordings and the spirited Mike Concrete at the forefront. Their second album “Passion, Pain & Loyalty” was a brave venture away from guitars into simpler keyboard melodies. Oh, do they have the knack to write a song. No worries, they did get the guitars back into play but the music had got much more varied.

Did Orphan Boy want to give up? Yes, they did. Why did other bands become successful, why were record companies not really bothered? Thankfully for us, they kept at it, now more determined than ever.

So, not only, one of their songs went viral online over Christmas – 2015 will be the year of a new album, new single, gigs and all.

And on the 14th of March is the launch of the single “Beats Like Distant Tides” from the forthcoming album “Coastal Tones” at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester. The single will be released on March 23rd 2015, the album is to follow in April.

Now, if you cannot make it there, neither can I (sigh) but have a gander and listen here:

Here’s the video that went viral (used by Grimsby Town FC for their Christmas message) and it is truly sweet, as is the song.