UNITED KINGDOM: POP ROCK BAN "THE CALLING " TALK ABOUT THEIR NEW ALBUM AND CHART SUCCESS

Record ID: 392821

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: POP ROCK BAN "THE CALLING " TALK ABOUT THEIR NEW ALBUM AND CHART SUCCESS
  • Date: 1st June 2002
  • Summary: LONDON, UK (RECENT) (REUTERS) THE CALLING PERFORMING AT THE BORDERLINE
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UK
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6IVMW1ZOIGYNWCG8IAVELRD0I
  • Story Text: After a brief appearance in Coyote Ugly performing "Wherever You Will Go", US pop rockers The Calling have gone on to have chart success in America. The track is out this week in the UK and is looks set to land firmly in the top five.
    Providing an antidote to the manufactured boy bands and rock rap nu-metalers which overwhelm the music scene at the moment, The Calling are a pop rock five piece with great tunes, great guitars and plenty of emotion. Its a sound with a wide appeal, kids love it and their parents don't complain about it! It seems like a winning formula and the band's success is gathering momentum.
    "It's great, after all the years we were signed and not allowed to make a record, and working really hard I think if we had no success, we'd be really bummed out, and now it's the polar opposite, which is mass global success, and it's just insane, lot's of work, but it's all paying off, it's very very cool."
    In the current musical climate of instant stardom via TV audition shows and managers finding the faces to fit current trends.- The Calling have done things the old fashioned way - working for over five years to get where they are now. Although they are glad their work has paid off, they are finding the ride a hectic one.
    "People were telling us what kind of thing to expect, but until you're in it you never know what to expect, and the bigger it is, the more offers the more there is to do, and we've worked harder than a lot of people in the last nine months, it's really just been completely insane, but no-one could have prepared us for what it was."
    The band started when Alex, the vocalist was just 15, and met Aaron, 19 at the time, who was dating Alex's older sister.
    "...they dated for a few moths, and that's how we met, she was my older sister, they are both four years older, I was about 15, they were 19. But that's when we started playing, we put this bizarre band together with a 60 year old drummer and a 40 year old bass player and called it Generation Gap. We actually got signed, right away, before we had played one show, so it was really pretty intense....The older guys, they were cool and committed and that's what was really nice, but i think we taught them more about music, they weren't that great, and they were a little bummed when we had to let them go, but for the most part they were understanding, we haven't talked to them since the phone call five years ago, but honestly it was just a few months we got to know them, but not really, it was a little strange."
    The band's first album, Camino Palmero has attracted attention on both sides of the Atlantic as well as across Europe. but once they had the record, Alex and Aaron needed to complete the band, this time with musicians of their own generation.
    "A year and a half ago, we made this record, me and Aaron did, and when it was finished, just though friends of friends in Los Angeles we found these guys who were young, new players in LA, and really put the band together, they were the first people we checked out and we put the band together in a week."
    The first single to be released in the UK is "Wherever You Will Go" and early reports suggest that it will go into the Top 5 when the charts are announced at the weekend.
    ---ENDS---
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