Monday 19 March 2012

Monday 20 February 2012

Doing the double: Part II, HMV Next Big Thing

Us? HMV tipped? Really, don't mention it - it's no biggie...

That's right: the second night of our double weekender saw us take to the stage for the final night of the HMV Next Big Thing festival, in support of Detroit electro-pop act Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr, along with Welsh boys WE//ARE//ANIMAL.

A big thank you to everyone who made it down to support us, and kudos to you 'ultimate groupies' who made it to both nights. Below are just a few snaps, so as not to inundate this blog with pictures. You can, howevercheck out the full set of pics if you so wish, over here.

Big thanks to the lovely Mr. Benner for inviting us to play!


DYH x




Thanks also to Rods from The Flying Rats who sent us this video of  our opening two songs.

Doing the double: Part I, Heroes Bar

Some snaps from our double weekender last week, starting with Heroes Bar...

Thanks to all who came along and rocked out with us! Special mentions go to Ray from Foreign Legion for his brilliant (and not at all drunk?) stage invasion during Don't Make Me Go Back and the random bloke who made Lucy sign his chest. Quite the experience. She wisely drew the line at leaving a lipstick imprint on his nipple though... 

Sat Feb 11th: Heroes Bar (thanks Vix for the pix)






Bringing the 'I'm a Little Teapot' dance back into fashion...

Stage invasion #101: Always locate a microphone for maximum effect 

 Stage invasion #102: Demonstrate your reciprocated 'bromance' with the guitarist so as not to be removed by security 



Tuesday 7 February 2012

Tommy's rock star moment, HMV Next Big Thing & upcoming dates

So it's a busy next couple of months for us... After a raucous set last Friday night just at Kate's Charity Variety Night Extravaganza @ Bethnal Green Working Men's Club**, (let's just say that much to his delight, Tommy almost got eaten alive by the ladies in the audience when he jumped into the crowd with his guitar...), we're nice and warmed up for this weekend's gigs.

Saturday sees us headline Heroes Bar (tickets over here for a fiver) and on Sunday, we are ridiculously excited to say that we will be playing HMV Next Big Thing at The Barfly, as recommended by The Fly as one of the ten must-see shows of the festival.

Tickets are £10 on the door but message us on facebook or email dragyourheels@hotmail.co.uk to get on the £5 guestlist. We're onstage at 7.30pm prompt, which means you can have your Sunday roast, come on down for a few drinks and be tucked up in bed by 10pm - hope to see some of your friendly faces there...


Dates in full:

FEBRUARY:
Sat 11th - Heroes Bar, Kentish Town
Sun 12th - HMV Next Big Thing @ Barfly, Camden w/ Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr
Fri 17th Feb - Deviation Street @ Alley Cat, Denmark St w/ The Vinyl Stitches
Fri 24th Feb - Jubilee Club @ Barfly, Camden w/ The Howling

MARCH:
Thurs 1st - The Castle, Whitechapel
Sat 17th - Rock 'n' Roll Basement @ Sebright Arms, Bethnal Green
Tues 27th - Cafe 1001, Brick Lane

APRIL:
Tues 10th - Ruby Sings Club @ Ronnie Scott's, Soho
Sat 28th - Paper Dress Vintage, Shoreditch

Good thing we've got rehearsal tomorrow: we'd better get practicing then... (unlike Kevin and Tommy hard at work last week)


Drag Your Heels say "don't smoke kids"

And er, "same goes for drink"

** Which raised a staggering £5,000 for Cancer Research - amazing effort.

Thursday 12 January 2012

Overwhelming EP review of the day...

By the very complimentary Andy Garibaldi of the Dead Earnest blog and presenter of The Sound show on Radio North Angus. We didn't even pay him to be so nice! ;)

1. HOW IT'S MEANT TO BE
The intro is just stunning – a repeated, clipped guitar at the bottom end of the scale, over which this sultry, husky, powerful, restrained and smokily bluesy female vocal delivers the lyrics to a song that positively smoulders, threatening to burst into flames at any second.

Then not to disappoint, it does just that, as the band bursts into life with an explosion of guitar riffing, twangy electric guitars, deep bass and driving drumming, over which, that now high-flying vocal doesn't miss a beat; delivering the lyrics to this surge of a song with passion, strength and intensity.

The whole song just spirals upwards on the best slice of blues-tinged, contemporary indie rock 'n' roll, with a menacing backdrop, multi-tracked vocal chorus and mighty playing. In short, it's absolutely awesome. This hooks you right into the world of Drag Your Heels; a world from which you are delighted to know that there's no escape...

2. WALK AWAY
“Walk Away” bounces along with more power than the proverbial bomb. The vocal now glides through the verses with a low-down, brooding intensity; towering above the Blur-esque “Song 2” styled fuzz bass, the twang of the Blondie “Atomic”- esque guitar riff, the crash of the drumming, and rising up to this huge, multi-tracked vocal hook for a combination that is simply jaw-dropping.

3. CROSSBONE BOY
Driving indie-blues with a classic riff, even adding sax for extra effect. The vocals are sung with urgency and intensity; the song driving ahead with intent, through riffs that you can't resist, rhythms that defy you not to leap about the place, sax that burns, and vocals that spread their wings and fly like an eagle over the whole instrumental blaze. The best slice of contemporary blues-soaked indie song-writing and delivery that you'll hear anywhere.

4. EVERYTHING I WANT
“Everything I Want” takes the pace down a notch – and by now, you're grateful for that – as a gorgeous song ensues, complete with yearning vocals, lurching rhythms, occasional sax bursts and grooving guitars. The vocal is full of feeling and really heartfelt. The mood: reflective, impassioned and suitably “late-night”. But this is just a breather…

5. TOWARDS YOUR SHADOW
“Towards Your Shadow” bursts into life with a searing heat, as the band really surge ahead on a sea of guitar riffs, guitar-breaks like solar flares, driving rhythms and crashing cymbals. The vocals return to the menacing urgency of the verses and the even more urgent intensity of the hook-filled chorus once more refuses to leave your head – as, indeed, does the whole song and the playing. The combination gets gradually denser yet more addictive, as the short but impressive song rolls to its sudden end point.

6. SOME OTHER DREAM
Bouncy indie with a distinct flavour of New Order-meets-The Darling Buds, and just a dream of a slice of solid indie-pop at its finest. The vocals take off like a rocket above the driving beats, choppy rhythms, heated bass and surge of low-slung guitar: a song that really hits the spot.

7. THE MYSTERY MEN
The EP ends with “The Mystery Men” and here things return to that twangy, menacing, soaring, uplifting, and intense modern-times rock’n' roll feel; with huge upfront bass, twangy guitar riffing, bouncing drumming and that vocal that sings with wondrous urgency, evil intent and wide-eyed passion. The verses are addictive; the hooks spellbinding and even a brief burst of guitar breakout to add to the driving addiction of this incendiary memorable and mighty surge of songwriting.

Overall, this is one absolute solid gem of a CD that doesn't put a foot wrong and makes you want to play it all over and over, long, loud and often.

Drag Your Heels - The Black Hearted EP by Drag Your Heels

Monday 9 January 2012

Happy New Year from DYH

Happy new year folks! We trust you're all doing well on those new year's resolutions... ;)

Our EP The Black Hearted is out now and we'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who came along to our launch party at the Hawley Arms - we had a blast! Below you can find preview track The Mystery Men (which was debuted on Tom Robinson's Friday night BBC6 Music show), info on where you can buy the EP and some pics from the launch...

DYH x



Monday 14 November 2011

DYH news and recent coverage

Really nice to be getting some loving on t'internet!

BLOGS
The Devil Has The Best Tuna included us in their music round-up the other week over here, and a rather suave and stylish Italian blog did a whole feature on us, with an interview plus a mixtape we put together for them. You can find the results of that over here.



RADIO
We also did an interview for the Emerging Icons Chart Show for the Student Radio University Association, which streamed on Sunday. Unfortunately we got the time wrong and forgot to listen to it/post a link, but due to the wonders of modern technology the show will be available to download soon. We'll link it as soon as it's up on iTunes!

GIG ANNOUNCEMENT
In other news, did we mention that we're playing Jubilee's NYE party at the one and only Barfly, supporting the one and only Carl Barat? Little bit excited for that one.