We stumbled upon VelcroBROTHER during our daily trawl through blogworld, and discovered that there is a lot of Soundcloud love and respect for these guys. Look a little deeper and you can find the video for their punchy track, ‘The Samaritans Called Me Last Night’ on YouTube.
After talking to Jez from the band we realised that VelcoBROTHER have lived a bit, and the songs from their ongoing journey, as taken from their debut album A Helpin’ Hand, are both passionate and brilliantly observational. Don’t even get us started on where their name came from…
We asked Jez to run us through the story of the album…
The Police Report
This puts current street life into a comic book reality with Superman handing his cloak in and turning to fags as he finds the day job harder to hack. Short, but sets the scene for the next song.
The Samaritans Called Me Last Night
This initially came out of speaking to homeless kids when I was busking in New York one summer. On arriving in London, and with part of the band having lived in Glasgow, we saw more newspaper boards talking about kids being knifed, or shot. It made us want to write about society and how it is losing kids. If that happens we are all fucked. To some extent society is scared of them, so they are destined to head in the wrong direction and in turn the pressure increases on them and society – they fight as they are afraid and have no one to trust. Some even wet their bed in their teens from one poster I saw in the tube. “Walls are gettin’ tighter, he’s a fighter, but he’s scared of you”
Barefoot Doctors
This is about having an operation. In the 60s I heard that peopled used to hand out medical care but had no qualifications. They were called Barefoot Doctors.
Hold Means Now
This is about love and how it can get you through, even at your lowest point. And it’s always free so we can all get it – nice bit of equality there. “When the world feels damin’ your hands so calmin”. This has the most faves on Soundcloud.
Oblomovs Caravan
This is about teen insecurity, confidence and understanding love. I think this is one of our best songs.
Fallin’
This is 100% love song.
Country
This is about leaving the city to find a home in the country with your girl. Never done it, but a nice dream when the city feels dirty! We’ve been asked to record a video on how this was written – the story behind it etc.
The Whole World’s Watching
This is about living life to the full and being young. Fight the system, love and party is a nice way to eat and drink. “Never rolled a 7 up to now. So pour another double for me tonight” The chant at the start was taken from student riots.
Common Associate
This is a rocker love song about fancying some at work.
A Film By…
This has got a fair amount of airplay along with Samaritans and Hold Means Now. A cynical look at how we are sold crap and all the other marketing bullshit that manipulates people. “You just pay your tax and fly. Would you look me in the eye?”
Good Times
This song dropped on my lap one night on leaving the cinema in London. We had just lost one of our best friends and it was a really tough time for all of us. The first half is about loss with the opening lines asking all the questions I think we all ask when someone dies, the second part lifts you back up with some optimism. It is set with a string quartet which makes it different from the rest of the album and a nice way to finish. We have had two folk contact us who have lost family or friends to say it helped them get through, which was really nice.
All in all, it is meant to be A Helpin’ Hand
