4. Management

THE BRONZE MEDAL

“could enjoy a similar journey to stardom as Muse” Bristol Evening News.

“masters of slow build indie minimal.” The Times Culture Magazines Hottest New Download.

The Bronze Medal are a four-piece dynamically drive, indie-rock-band from Bristol that comprises of Chris Hillier (vocals/guitar/piano/noise), Robin Southwell (vocals/guitar/piano), Mike Barnett (bass/vocals) and Rory O’Gorman (drums/percussion/vocals). The band are set to release their debut single ‘Milk’ on East City Records in June 2011, followed by a busy touring schedule throughout the UK and Europe for the remainder of the year. Despite forming under fairly compromising geographical circumstances in December 2009, in their short year-long life as a band, The Bronze Medal have played sold-out concerts across the UK including performances at Wychwood Festival & Dot to Dot Festival and several high-profile support slots. In December 2010 they made their studio debut recording with critically-acclaimed British producer Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Mogwai) and have received a wealth of praise from local press and enthusiastic support from the BBC.

In the autumn of 2009, the band formed in the aftermath of a six-week busking-funded backpacking-trip through Southern-Europe and Scandanavia taken by respective singer-songwriters Chris Hillier and Robin Southwell. Having written a group of songs inspired by their surroundings in the wilderness, on their return home, they subsequently withdrew into their bedroom studios to record their weather-beaten musical chronicles on laptops and four-track recorders. A month later the results found the band sounding a lot louder than they may had foreseen, at their first live performance – a sold-out date at Bristol’s Thekla in December of 2009.

“appealingly slow-burning, sweetly mournful flavour, overlaid with murmured melodies.” The Metro One To Watch.

Having coated the two former buskers in a wall of noise, The Bronze Medal’s final configuration create a sound with a fierce, post-rock ferocity but a tender core rooted in alternative-folk music. Having learned their trade charming passers-by in foreign tourist-traps, the band have retained their early emphasis on vocal harmonies and lyrical poignancy, but combined these core traits with emotively driven, loud/quiet erratic dynamics, shrouding their ascending melodies in cymbal crashes and guitar feedback.

With the academic year behind them, in the summer of 2010 the band played their first run of real shows across the UK, selling out venues in their native Bristol, but also in Cardiff, Bath, Newport, Norwich and Exeter. Their debut summer schedule included performances at Wychwood Festival, Harbourside Festival, Dot to Dot Festival, numerous sessions for BBC Bristol and support shows with Chapel Club, Brother and American pop-rockers Anberlin. In coverage of the band’s performance at Bristol’s Harbourside Festival, Venue Magazine described the band as being, “sublimely powerful and stirringly delicate in equal measure, a stunning performance”. In 2011, London venue Monto Water Rats described the band as “Powerful, tender and uplifting, a lot rests on the young shoulders of this exciting new band. Beautifully crafted songs, interesting arrangements and intense throughout. A band not to miss.”

In the winter of 2010, after finding a secluded farm-house to quietly and committedly refine their sound, The Bronze Medal entered a real purpose-built studio for the first time to spend four days recording with acclaimed British producer Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Mogwai). Formby had previously described the band’s demos as “simply beautiful” and once in the nook of his personal studio the band were able to experiment with their recording process and adorn their songs with new layers of lap-steel, piano, harmonium, and reel-to-reel analog tape-effects. Despite the snow drifts and demanding time constraints the band finished four tracks – one of which is set to be their debut single.

In 2010 The Bronze Medal spent the year of their birth homing their sound and playing their first network of live shows throughout the UK. In June 2011 the band are set to release their first single ‘Milk’ followed by an extensive touring schedule throughout June, August and October in the UK and Europe as well as meeting further recording plans for new material in the summer. The band have suffered from a compromised living situation as a member of their band previously studied in Holland until the beginning of 2011, but with this new year they have much more expansive plans for the months that lie ahead of them.

When asked in a recent interview with the BBC, how do you begin writing a song, do you start with the music or the lyrics? Chris replied, “Uh, the short answer would be the music because we write a lot of music together that we never intend to write lyrics to. But usually if I write a song that has any lyrics it starts with an intention rather than a musical or even lyrical idea. I usually just know I want to write a song about something – like a certain theme or experience or about a person etc and I usually want it to have a certain mood that reflects that and that’s enough. Once you have that intention, the rest just comes naturally.”

“beguiling beautiful track which packs an emotional wallop.” TNT Magazine.

 

 

 

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