The Loyalties - So Much For Rock n Roll

By Chris Rockson

Drawing together former members of The Yo-Yos, The Black Halos, and Deadline, The Loyalties formed in 2006 in Soho, London.

Setting out their stall ..to bring punkrock'n'roll kicking and screaming from the gutters' in the spirit of The Clash, Ramones, Thunders and The Dead Boys', they achieve it, and then some, adding some Wildhearts-style delivery to the soup, with a side order of Social Distortion. Above all else, these songs are real slices of hook-laden ramalama singalong action.

With 2 EP releases under their belts and a split 7" single with Berlin's Radio Dead Ones, the band followed this in May 2008 with their debut album So Much For Soho', released on Devil's Jukebox (UK/EU/USA), Vinyl Junkie (Japan) and Yeah Right (Canada). Press for the album so far has included a 9/10 review in Rock Sound (UK), 83/100 in Burrn (Japan), 4/5 in Big Cheese (UK) and a declaration from Sleazegrinder that the album is "as devastatingly catchy as it is desolately punk" .

Their relentless, raucous and totally righteous live show has seen them slam-dunk their way across the UK, Germany and Italy to ever-appreciative crowds.

August sees the band hit the road again in the UK with Black Lungs (members of Alexisonfire and Cancer Bats). Expect more dates in the UK and Europe this year.

Loyalties Line-Up

Tom Spencer - bass, vocals
Rich Jones - guitar, vocals
Lee Jonez - guitar, vocals
Craig Herdman - drums, vocals

I caught up with the guys at the Manchester Academy when they toured with the New York Dolls, and will be reviewing their next set of live dates in the next issue of SoundCheck. They are building up a large fan base and with the success of their new album 'So Much For Soho', they are destined for massive things in the near future.

Check 'em out when they tour the UK with Duff McKagan's new band, Loaded.

You can also check the Loyalties out right HERE