Nu disco group Vanilla Gorillaz are on a mission to make people feelgood.
The Huddersfield based trio – Carl Wallis, Jonny Spencer and Steve Whyte – have ditched their heavy metal roots and reinvented themselves as a ‘hands in the air’ live dance band.
The move has already paid off as shortly after they axed the crushing riffs in favour of disco beats, they caught the attention of Manchester label Longevity Records.
Singer, Carl Wallis, said: “We’ve rebranded ourselves, we used to be metal guitarists and we’ve gigged alongside Evile.
“Me and Steve met at Leeds College of Music and I knew Jonny from previous metal bands.
“We all got together to form this new project.”
The band have also begun working with up-and-coming producer Ben Booker who has worked as a live sound engineer and producer with a host of dance pop groups including Alphabeat, The Scissor Sisters and Groove Armada.
Bassist Jonny said they were pleased to have his backing.
He said: “We’ve got quite lucky with him. We met him when we were in a psychedelic metal band but nothing ever really came of it.
“But we’ve kept in touch with him and he’s absolutely loving this nu-disco vibe we’re going with, which is more his actual scene.”
Jonny said the label had given them a few tips on how to develop their sound and they had written a host of new songs.
He said: “We’ve taken on board their advice.
“We had the idea to go with a disco vibe anyway but they’ve singled out one tune and with the help of Ben Booker that totally modified our sound.
“We’ve had our first release with them and we’ve got our song on Spotify and iTunes.
“We’ve also done a music video produced by local talent AshTV.”
Multi-instrumentalist Carl, who won one of the famous Mrs Sunderland music prizes as a child, said he had been in a number of bands but felt the time was right for his latest project.
He said: “We’ve been a lot more successful with this concept.
“It goes down really well with the audience – with the economy at the moment people want happy music.
“We think dance music is lacking live bands and we’re trying to inject a bit of fun back into it
“It’s feelgood music and we enjoy playing it.
“We want the crowd to feel like they’re a part of something.”
Jonny said the backing from the new label had already boosted their fortunes.
“When we got with Longevity records they really rocketed us up.
“We had a launch at The Parish and we’re working with them trying to get a Longevity night so other acts can come along and showcase their music.
“Since that night the song has sold really well on iTunes.
“We’re just looking forward to our next release now.”
The band say they’ve also had interest from the BBC, TV channels in New Zealand and Channel 4 Music here in the UK.
But while they are hopeful they might hit the UK charts the band said they were not chasing fame.
“We’ve never been the most popular people and we’re not really fussed with it,” said Jonny.
“We just like impressing people with our music.
“The last thing we want is a stalker kicking in our door!”
