The Lazy Darlings profile picture

The Lazy Darlings

About Me


In late 2007 Leeds musician Dave James found himself in a position most creatives dream about: having the financial freedom to record original material. Along with long time collaborator ‘The Cardinal’ manning the drums, the duo saw various line up changes to get where they are today. Now featuring Texan Rod Castro on bass, and with James taking the role of lead guitarist, The Lazy Darlings are able to show a new dynamic to their often talked-about live shows.
With Castro being a long time fan of the Manchester/Factory scene, leaving the San Antonio sun and being based in northern England does, it seems, have its plus points! With the ‘New Yorkshire’ music scene exploding both locally and in the national media, there’s certainly been no lack of gigs or audiences in their hometown but it’s time to visit the rest of the country, as London tour dates are beckoning.
After brief stints with a couple of female vocalists, bringing a softer feel to the music – James admits his song writing style is still “All about the melodies” - the now three-piece are driving forward with a scuzzier, garage vibe. Having played in previous bands in Leeds, the boys never quite felt a connection with the sounds the city became known for; always being on the cusp of their famous peers, The Lazy Darlings set themselves apart with their refreshing country elements. Drawing influences as broad as Prince to The Velvet Underground, the band were never going to be the next packaged indie pop group.
Having recorded their first EP in an old studio on analogue in an Idyllic farm on the outskirts of York, their trademark country vibe seemed easy to attain. This time around, their newfound garage kicks will more than likely dictate their current recording sessions to have a more stripped-down rock edge.
With an 8-year musical relationship in tow, James and The Cardinal certainly have a well honed stage presence and as Castro secures the band’s four-string backbone, the main thing they take away from their energetic live performances is that “We always look like we're enjoying ourselves, people always tell us that we look like we’re having fun” James continues, “When I started this band, I wasn’t thinking about it going ‘somewhere’, when you're always chasing goals you, stop enjoying it”.
Gearing up for London dates in July, the band will no doubt gain more exposure in the capital, before heading stateside to Texas in spring 2010.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 05/11/2007
Band Members:

Life Is Easy e.p. available at itunes

1. Life Is Easy
2. A Girl Like You
3. See Her Smile
4. Laura

This is good, four easy tracks, four gentle easy glowing simple tracks – and smiles and sunny delight and wholesomely good mellow indie alt.pop delivered with depth, crafted warmth and just a hint of Wilco style Americana. Four impressive intelligent sun-kissed songs, four slices of life and standing in the rain and sometimes the simple things are best and less is more. I seem to have been playing it on and off all day now... - organ magazine

the lazy darlings really do steal the show - perching comfortably between country twang and indie pop sensibilities, the set is captivating - leedsmusicscene.net

'life is easy' quickly develops into a sun-kissed, lilting gem coursing with uplifting harmonies and hammond organ. 'see her smile' marries soft, rhythmic piano and endearingly fragile vocals before building to a subtle yet soaring chorus - it's a delight. 'a girl like you' is catchy, country-tinged americana, beautifully elevated by the elegant lapsteel guitar - vibrations magazine

the lazy darlings take the best of neil young, gram parsons and wilco to create their own americana masterpieces - exitfare.blogspot.com

timeless, country upbeat catchy pop..hints of the beach boys and the kinks and sounds equally 'now'. that the lazy darlings have done this on their first recordings bodes well for the future - www.whisperinandhollerin.com

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dave james - lead vocals, guitar

rod castro - bass

the cardinal - drums

alli - vocals

Influences: spiritualized/the ronettes/black rebel motorcycle club/gram parsons/the kinks/prince/hank williams/the velvet underground
Sounds Like: yes, it does rather doesn't it?
Record Label: Unsigned

My Blog

life is easy e.p. now available on itunes etc.

the life is easy e.p. can now be downloaded from itunes, napster, rhapsody, emusic, amazon and lala.the tracklisting is:1 - life is easy2 - a girl like you3 - see her smile4 - laurago get 'emxxxx
Posted by on Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:08:00 GMT

new pics, next gig, fresh recordings...

hoopla, hoopla, hoopla!hope you're well good people..i'm a little frazzled from plenty of good livin' but i'll survive.if you haven't had a peek behind the curtain at our new lovely pics taken by mr k...
Posted by on Tue, 26 May 2009 02:03:00 GMT

darlings on rear window radio

howdy!the lovely people at rear window radio, Toronto, have included our song 'dead star' in their current show which runs from may 8th  - may 14th.check it out at www.notinlondonproductions.com or su...
Posted by on Thu, 07 May 2009 04:44:00 GMT

our new man

it's been a while folks and, so far, a year of various ups and downs.  we've had to wave goodbye to bassman jim due to him being dead busy and all...we wish the sexy one all the very best with this, t...
Posted by on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:43:00 GMT

we're supporting Delta Spirit!

woo hoo! just got word that we're on the bill with delta spirit on tuesday 31st march at the brudenell social club in leeds.they're ace and you can hear them here http://www.myspace.com/deltaspiritho...
Posted by on Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:52:00 GMT

hello alli!

hola amigos!for reasons i'm not going to go into here (and for once it's not "musical differences"!) the girl you can hear singing on our tracks is no longer in the LDs.....but we have a lovely new gi...
Posted by on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:55:00 GMT

indieball

indieball.com have done a nice write up of some of our tracks.  here be what they say: "With countless blogs and tens of millions of music lovers scouring the interweb for new tunes every day, its un...
Posted by on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:07:00 GMT

live at the BBC

we're playing a live session for BBC Radio Humber this Sunday.  The show will also be broadcast on BBC Radio Leeds DAB.  It starts at 8pm and we'll be playing 3 songs at around 9pm.  Yo...
Posted by on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:20:00 GMT

video for ’life is easy’

on this very page you can now watch the video to our debut single, 'life is easy'. fans of andy warhol's 'chelsea girls' and various screen test films will spot a bit of a respectful homage going on....
Posted by on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:07:00 GMT

feel so lonely/lover, come in

hola! we went back to the seriously cool ATTIC STUDIOS a couple of weeks back and worked even faster than usual.  'feel so lonely' and 'lover, come in' were mainly cut live because we wanted to c...
Posted by on Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:28:00 GMT