Derby 5-piece Marseille enter exciting new era with highly charged shoegazing masterpiece.
Forming in 2021, Marseille have wasted absolutely no time as ones to watch thanks to their brand of catchy indie rock anthems and scintillating live gigs that have gained fan and critical acclaim, and can count legendary DJ Steve Lamacq as a fan.
2023 was Marseille’s biggest and year to date. They played an incredible 47 shows; 2 UK headline tours (including sold out shows at London’s The Water Rats; The Bunkhouse in Swansea and Dead Wax in Birmingham) their first overseas shows in Jersey and appearances at Y Not Festival and Isle Of Wight.
2024 has already seen Marseille deliver a sensational set in London before blowing away an expectant crowd in Manchester as part of the This Feeling Big in 2024 showcase.
The new single, Monkey In The Middle is set for release on Friday 1st March, and has been a regular feature and highlight of the bands live sets. It’s full of swagger and drive and is a huge statement of intent.
Starting off with a thunderous bass line and squealing guitars, the soundscape is soon filled with Tom Spray’s exhilarating driving drums and strummed guitars that are entwined with heavy psychedelic riffs, giving the song a real groove and will make you want to dance.
The song has a real energetic groove, and has a real anthemic and euphoric vibe throughout, that gives a real insight into how Marseille are going to kick off this new era. It has a tremendous fuzz filled hook that drives on and on and provides the song with the power of early Verve and shows exactly why Marseille are ready to continue their ascent to the very top of the indie scene.
Lennon Hall’s rhythm guitars really shine on this song providing plenty of drive and dreamy shoegaze textures, that set the scene for frontman Will Brown’s immense and melodic vocal.
“Monkey in The Middle is one of the older tracks in our repertoire, but despite how many songs have been cut from our set, this one has always remained. A song written about feeling like a performing ‘Monkey’ just to line someone else’s pockets, greedy people wanting you to no longer be yourselves, just to furnish their needs. Ultimately, it’s a track about staying true to yourself or you’ll forget who you are.”
Will Brown
On the full edit, we get a masterclass in lead guitar playing from Joe Labram. There’s a clever drop in pace and sound and a guitar riff that has a nod to The Stone Roses I Am The Resurrection, before Joe will leave you awestruck whilst he riffs over the top of the songs driving rhythms and pummelling drums channeling his inner John Squire. In fact I will go as far to say that Joe is the finest guitarist of his generation. He has a way of making the guitar talk, whilst making it look so effortless.
The solo builds to a crescendo, almost cinematic, full of tension and drama. The guitars are rich and are layered with glorious lead fills and numerous solo’s that leave you mesmerised, almost hypnotised. This is a highly addictive track and a real statement of intent from a band who have through word of mouth quickly risen up the indie ranks.
Marseille’s fan base continues to grow with every release and they’ve held nothing back with the release of Monkey In The Middle. With a new EP titled Godiva (which is absolutely outstanding), set for release later in the year and plenty of gig announcements on the way, Marseille are set to sweep all before them and become one of the most sought after indie bands around.
Monkey In The Middle is released on Friday 1st March and can be pre-saved here.
To celebrate the release of the single, Marseille have put together an exciting video, which will get its premiere on Sunday 3rd March at 10am on the bands You Tube channel.
Marseille’s frontman, Will Brown was a recent guest on episode 93 of the ThisIsTheMusic Meets Podcast. It’s available on all podcast platforms and our You Tube channel.
Gigs
01/03/2024 – The Crescent, York (Supporting Serotones)
15/03/2024 – Deadwax, Birmingham (Supporting Rosellas)
16/03/2024 – Head Of Steam, Newcastle (Supporting Rosellas)
30/03/2024 – Fulford Arms, York – (Supporting Tom Hingley of Inspiral Carpets)
20/03/2024 – Record Junkee, Sheffield (Supporting Holy Coves)
27/03/2024 – Foundry Studio, Sheffield (Supporting Sam Scherdel)
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