Stars in waiting: Fight the Dice
Dan Jones catches up with the region's best unsigned acts and meets the stars of tomorrow
Fast-rising Shropshire band Fight the Dice are dangerously close to becoming one of the Midlands finest new acts. They are certainly one of the most talked about.
If you, like many, have already seen the band then you will have seen Jack Turner tearing up the guitar along with fellow axe man Tom Worrall. Joined on stage by Sam Jackson on bass, Phil Beauchamp on drums and not forgetting vocalist, frontman and breaker of school girls' hearts everywhere Ben Jackson.
The five piece burst onto the scene last May with EP 'Something I Can't Handle', which not only left listeners hungry for more but cemented their place on the radar of local taste makers, movers and shakers.
Since those foetal months the guys have progressed from the small stages of local pubs to some of the biggest stages the Midlands has to offer; not least Oswestry's Ironworks, Birmingham's O2 Academy and even the massive NEC, in Birmingham.
The quintet fuses elements of both pop and rock creating a sound somewhere between You Me At Six and Blink 182. Happily, their sound is sufficiently distinct to set them out as being both unique and exciting.
If ever there was a testament that these guys are going somewhere it came from their producer, Gavin Monaghan, who worked on their debut album, having previously worked with Ocean Colour Scene, The Twang and Editors, among others.
The album, titled 'Your Wisest Choice and Your Worst One Yet', has been out for just four months now but appears to have been no hard choice for listeners. It serves to highlight Fight The Dice's range as a band, with tracks such as a 'Blindfold' embracing the pop-ier love song side of the music.
That provides a contrast with 'Bad Decisions' or 'Quién Eres?' (don't ask us how to pronounce that – but apparently it's Spanish for 'who are you?'), which venture the darker and heavier pastures of rock, yet do not go too far as to alienate the other tracks. Despite recording and releasing both their first EP and first full length studio album in less than twelve months, the band have even managed to find the time to record two highly polished, if not a little cheesy, music videos to both 'Bad Decisions' and 'L.O.V' which have topped 25,000 views!
Not bad for five guys you hadn't heard of this time last year.
For more information/dates/music/merch and more visit www.fightthedice.co.uk.
