The Howling Bells Of Oz Indie Rock
Blessed Night & The Joys Of Parenthood.
I first heard this track when it came out, I think it was on BBC Radio 6, I seem to remember putting our kid to bed as at the time my better half used to keep the local kids in order in the evenings working at the local Youth Hostel. I guess I had some time to spare before I was disturbed by cries of not being able to sleep etc...Ah! the joys of parenthood. Anyhoo, I flicked on and the first track I heard was this, I hadn't got a clue who it was by until the song finished. The more I listened, the more I liked...
The track was 'Blessed Night' by a band called Howling Bells and was from their first album. I noted the name and had a hunt around for some of their other material and was impressed.
The bands eponymous debut was released in 2006 on the independent Australian label 'Liberation Music' in Oz and also in the UK by Indie Label 'Bella Union' founded by The Cocteau Twins.
The main core band:
- Juanita Stein - Vocals/Guitar
- Joel Stein - Vocals/Guitar
- Glenn Moule - Drums
- Brendan Picchio - Bass
Album Track Listing:
- The Bell Hit
- Velvet Girl
- Low Happening
- Broken Bones
- Wishing Stone
- A Ballad For The Bleeding Hearts
- The Night Is Young
- Across The Avenue
- Setting Sun
- Blessed Night
- In The Woods
- I'm Not Afraid
It was a really impressive debut to be honest, possibly one of the best sounds I had heard for a while. Catch 'Setting Sun',ย a beautiful track. The last track on the album was written by Peter Stein, a song writer himself and the father of Juanita and Joel.
As described by one person who commented on 'Blessed Night' on the youtube channel, 'best riff (and simple) of the History of music'. Certainly is and works wonderfully, awesomely catchy with a laid back kind of singing style, pumping drums, throbbing bass line and fuzzed up guitars, but equally beautifully melodic.
Influences & Comparisons
Evidently the band were influenced by band such as Mazzy Star and Radiohead. Although an Australian based band originally named Waikiki formed by Juanita Stein and her brother Joel along with Glenn Moule and Brendan Picchio they gigged in Australia and eventually they moved to London after sending some demos to British Producer Ken Nelson (Coldplay and Gomez) who became interested in them, and changed band name to Howling Bells.
Catch one of their influences, Mazzy Star with one of my favourite tracks by them... 'Fade Into You' at the link, I kind of get the same vibe with the laid back vocal style on 'Blessed Night', although the latter being more up tempo. Kind of a Mazzy Star on Uppers!
Howling Bells themselves were often compared to bands such as Belly and The Breeders, I am not quite sure myself, but you can have a listen to Belly's second single 'Gepetto' at the link and make you own mind up, if you want to compare them with The Breeders you can catch my other post here Stateside Indie, Alt Rock & Grunge. By 2015/2016 the band went on hiatus, but both Juanita and Joel were to release solo albums, as a band they regrouped in 2022 to play a series of gigs around the UK performing their debut album in full, be nice if they regrouped fully again.
More Info
You can find out more about Howling Bells at their website howlingbells.co.uk.
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Photo Salisbury Cathedral ๐ ๐โ ฐ๐ฌ๐ รีผแซโ ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐๊โฑฟย