22-20's
- A Look at the Progress of a Great Band Following Their Performance at Glastonbury 2004
Lincolnshire rock ‘n’ rollers 22-20s are a band definitely on the up. Having just completed a full UK tour the charismatic quartet are set to make their mark on eager audiences in Europe and Japan. This year has also proved them to be festival faves, pulling in the crowds wherever the muddy fields called them.
-Its by their own admission however that they are pretty lightweight day-trippers when it comes to the hardcore festival slumming: “Having a dressing room helped” Bassist Glen tells us. “I don’t know how fun we’d find it if we had to camp this year”. Performing on Glastonbury’s Other Stage this year is proof in itself of how the band have grown in stature since their last Glasto 2003 appearance, having previously performed in the perhaps more modest ‘New Bands Tent’. Things can surely only keep on getting better from here...
Their new album “Heavenly” has already provided the airwaves with hits such as the invariably catchy “Shoot Your Gun” and the blisteringly dynamic “22 Days”, so the lads have every reason to look forward to a deservedly sunny future.
Even so they remain surprisingly modest about their contributions to a climate so unashamedly hungry for ‘real rock’. “If people have heard us before, the new stuff is fairly similar to the two singles we’ve released so far” explained frontman Martin.
Avoiding self-praise is a refreshing outlook for a band surrounded by egotistical wannabes and sugar coated pop upstarts. However it’s clear to see where these guys have taken their influences, producing solid, blues based rock with a contemporary, electric twist and all the while avoiding an annoying tag applying to those ‘pretender’ rock acts of mass production “I think we’re a band that try to play with conviction” explains Glen “We like people like Johnny Cash or The Clash... any kind of music that’s been done properly really”.
“Martin writes the songs. We just get a melody together then and get together as a band and see what it sounds like and what needs doing from there”.
As a live act these guys are a sight to behold so it’s not surprising that they were battling off the admirers at this years Glastonbury. Glen’s bass playing is sharply emphasised by his distinctive posture and effortless stage presence, proudly strutting it like a peacock while frontman Martin Trimble tears full-bodied riffs from a tatty and well loved little Fender. James Irving pounds an almost primitive adrenaline into his drum-kit and Charlie Coombes shakes the foundations with a timeless yet vigourous style, hammering out the chords on the keys. Each song in a 22:20’s live set pulls the atmosphere up a notch further as the crowd latches on to their exuberance, and always finishing in a dramatic flourish these guys never fail to disappoint as a live act. If they don’t become huge we want to know why!
22-20's album, “Heavenly”, is out now. For the latest 22-20's news, please visit: 22-20's Online
Article by Lucy Gooderidge. Interview by Glynn Pegler & Glastonbury photo by Jack Hobhouse. Piece supplied by Culture Magazine
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