About Me
REST IN PEACE
2004-2007
THEY are the artists formerly known as ASBO - but in a bid to clean up their act, these young rockers have changed their name.
The lads stormed onto the local music scene by winning the Salford Battle of the Bands in 2006, and have continued to go from strength to strength, winning Xfm’s Music: Response competition.
But despite their chosen profession’s reputation for anti-social antics, lead singer Mitchell Holmes said the foursome were looking for a more grown-up image.
They were also fed up with people pre-judging their music because of their name, he said.
"People were tending to get opinions on us before they had even heard our music," said Mitchell, a former pupil at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Swinton.
"We’re getting older, and the name seemed a bit dated altogether."
He added: "It also seems to be less in the news, which was one of the reasons why we liked it in the first place.
"I guess we’d grown out of it."
The ASBO tag has now been dropped for good, and the band have begun life under their new name, Hans Island.
The change reflects the fact that the boys are becoming men, with Mitchell now the only member under the age of 18.
Hans Island is a reference to Bruce Lee film Enter the Dragon.
As well as singer Mitchell, the band is made up of lead guitarist Dean Glover, 19, bass guitarist Jordan Summerfield, 18, and 21-year-old Ben Robinson on drums.
In April of last year they won Xfm’s weekly Music: Response competition, with a track called Marry Me Now.
Presenter Clint Boon, formerly of Oldham band, The Inspiral Carpets, likened Mitchell and pals to an early Stone Roses.
"We’re writing some more material, and hopefully we’ll be playing some festivals.
"We’re also looking for a manager, because we’ve got the music, but we want to get it out there.
"We’ve been practising a lot, working on the music and the set.
"We’re still definitely looking to make that breakthrough."
To find out what Hans Island have to offer you can listen to their music at: www.myspace.com/hansisland.
- Salford Advertiser
"WWW.MYSPACE.COM/HANSISLAND
"What happened to the GUITAR? what happened to the SELF BELIEF EDGING ON ARROGANCE? When the NME says the
...the coolest people in music are a fat biatch who can't sing, and a set of posh southern goths...
SOMETHING HAS GONE TERRIBLY TITS UP .
WHAT HAPPENED TO INDIE?
ASBO are four normal lads from BOLTON who dont go on about being working class and we DON'T sing songs about DANCEFLOORS , BACKSTREET KEBAB SHOPS or HAVIN IT OFF ON THE STAIRS , and we DON'T WEAR BRACES or NECKERCHIEFS or STRAW HATS , and we certainly DO NOT PUT ON FALSE SOUTHERN ACCENTS
Taking our music through the BBC2 POLITICS SHOW , the NME , winning SALFORD'S BATTLE OF THE BANDS 2006 , beating band's from all over the nation to be the headlined unsigned act before polytechnic at MANCHESTER'S BRIDGEWATER HALLS also supporting ART BRUT ... Not to mention being the winning unsigned band on XFM MANCHESTER'S UPLOADED and 96.2 THE REVOLUTION'S UNSIGNED TEXT VOTE
while bands spend time rhyming their weekend anecdotes together... we'd rather just spend it havin a good time and then write our lyrics using an imagination, asking a question or teaching a lesson...
SO WE ARE... bringing indie music homeUP NORTH WHERE IT BELONGS . Tunes made of up AGGRESSIVE GUITARS and rock solid rhythms, lyrics that are more TEENAGE POETRY rather than TEENAGE-DIARY ENTRIES , a faith in themselves and their music that we havent seen for a long time. ASBO are a band WITHOUT THE EMPTY POLITICS , and save the world campaigns. PLANET EARTH IS ON IT'S ARSE and they know it... lets enjoy the time we've got left and ENJOY WHAT BEING IN A ROCK BAND IS ABOUT
...NO it's not dressing like a gypsy history teacher and playing guitars under your chin
or about what's number one on the NME Chart Show.
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE 'IN' CROWD
IT'S ABOUT MAKING A DIFFERENCE
key word being - d i f f e r e n c e
Subject: ASBO
Body: Good band. No gay "neckerchiefs". No studenty tosser accents. Nice to see real indie still exists :-)
Kenton
July, 2007
ASBO may not be universally known and acclaimed but they were the Salford battle of the bands champions of 2006 and have even been in the NME so it's only a matter of time. Aged between 16 and 18 they make the Arctic Monkeys look like the Rolling Stones older brothers. They have absorbed the best of every great North West guitar based indie band through some form of musical osmosis managing to capture the essence of bands such as the Smiths, the Stone Roses. Oasis, Wah Heat and The La's. But ASBO are more than just another northern band - they have wider ambitions and on tracks like AK47 they take the "indie band" template and turn it into something that is unmistakenly their own. If ASBO were an item of clothing they'd be a hoody and they are coming to a shopping centre near you soon.
The Devil, Manchester
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
"Imagine the ambience and atmosphere of joy division, with the in your face grit of the stooges, but with a stone rose esque cool delivery - and even then, where does the text book moz referenced ditty called 'marry me now' come into it? There nothing pedigree about ASBO - it's a big mongrel of great music that bites you like you've never been biten before"
Manchester Music Spot Blog, 2007
"It's a bit intimidating how many excellent artists have come from Manchester, U.K.: Joy Division, Morrissey and the Smiths, Doves, Stone Roses, the Verve, the Buzzcocks, the Charlatans...that's just naming a few of them.
The young Manchesterites in ASBO do not put this list to shame with their basic guitar-bass-drums-vocals rock. Their sound may be closest to another of their hometown bands, Oasis.
Their MySpace page contains five downloads, four from a self-titled EP recorded this year. The short but adorable "Marry Me Now" has become a favorite of mine."
Speed Of Dark Music Blog
9th May 2007
WALKING THE WALK
THE BOLTON NEWS
XFM WINNERS
THE BOLTON NEWS
XFM UPLOADED
THE BOLTON NEWS
NEWS ZOOM
BRIDGWATER HALLS GIG
THE BOLTON NEWS
MANCHESTER WEBSITE SUPERIORS
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
SOME SHIT ABOUT MOTHERS
ASIAN IMAGE
???
