Truly, give the drummer some. Give Adam Ficek from Babyshambles all you've got!
This man has not only works in one of the best bands ever (ok, I'm totally biased, look at the site name and the radio show name), but he's worked in two other groups that fucking rock... those groups being Mains Ignition and the currently featured Roses Kings Castles!
Roses Kings Castles first popped up on Myspace with some demo songs and a Babyshambles assited track. Attention grew and grew and grew... now we have an awesome single called "Entroubled", an album that came out this week, and two fantastic remixes for you guys!
Here's some info...
The track 'Entroubled' and is, by its authors own admission, a quirky little summer alcopop of a song certain to wrap listeners around its nimble fingers. Would be great to get these up on the site as downloads. The remixes come from both Boy+Girl and Geek Chic Soundsystem, both fittingly transforming the track for the dancelfoor.
Entroubled is being released via Mr Ficeks own label, The Sycamore Club, which takes its name from the community centre of the council estate that he grew up on in Bletchley, Milton Keynes. You could go there on Friday night to meet girls or Saturday morning to fight boys.
Check out the animated video of 'Entroubled' here...
They Boy+Girl remix is 8 bit electro dancefloor gold. I really like how stripped down the track is but still has loads going on. The Geek Chic remix is more for minimal, whereas the other is maximal even in it's low-fi sound, and will be a bigger hit with the techno listeners. Roses Kings Castles debut album was just released on the 6th Oct.
Roses Kings Castles- "Entroubled (Boy+Girl Troubling Remix)" YSI
Roses Kings Castles- "Entroubled (Boy+Girl Troubling Remix)" Rapidshare
Roses Kings Castles- "Entroubled (Geek Chic Soundsystem 'Spot Of Bother' Remix)" YSI
Roses Kings Castles- "Entroubled (Geek Chic Soundsystem 'Spot Of Bother' Remix)" Rapidshare
Here's a little more info on the whole album...
"Pete's not the only 'Shambler with a swish line in solo material - through his Roses, Kings, Castles project sticksman Adam Ficek shows an ear for melody that the likes of Belle And Sebastian would smash up a tea party for." NME
"A wistful soup of lo-fi English pop, peppered with sparkling shards of summer and a pinch of Shambles to make things exciting." Clash
"Roses Kings Castles shows Ficek is as sweet and starry-eyed on the quiet, as he is strutting and swaggery in Babyshambles. A lovely, lo-fi treat." Daily Star
"Roses, Kings, Castles is blessed with the type of insatiable charm that people fall in love with. In fact, don't be surprised if you're married with kids by the end of it." Gigwise.com
"Sounding reminiscent of Graham Coxon's solo material, Adam proves there's more to him than just a beat for Pete." Future Music
Babyshambles drummer, fast-rising DJ and deft multi-instrumentalist Adam Ficek, who records barbed and bittersweet solo material under the moniker Roses Kings Castles, is releasing his eponymous debut album.
Recorded in Adam’s own bedroom over a two-week period that presented itself when Pete Doherty took time out from Babyshambles to work on his own non-band material, Roses Kings Castles is a short, sharp and savvy burst of sorrow-pop perfection, shot through with jingling melodies, toe-tapping acoustics and a wry lyrical nous.
The back-to-basics dynamic that drove the recording process and inspires the RKC concept as a whole has produced a ten-track LP at once pared-down and multi-layered, comprised of sonorous, chiming highs and whispered, spaced-out lows.
From the dirge-laden bluster of ‘Entroubled’ to the lush, flute-embalmed instrumentation of ‘Brass Winter’, the ragtime swagger of ‘Horses’, the smoky accordion flourishes and pan-clatter percussion of ‘Never Certain’, and haunted, lovelorn lull of ‘Folk Song’, the album combines delicate moments of genuine intimacy with splattered pallets of soaring melodic romanticism.
“I always wanted it to be slightly DIY in the music and artwork,” says Adam of his hands-on approach to all things RKC-related. “It’s far too easy to become clean and glossy in today’s world of assumed perfection.” This philosophy has seen him successfully self-release limited edition versions of singles to fans via PO Box. “I want people to feel they are becoming part of my process and me of theirs,” he continues.
Roses Kings Castles is being put out by Mr. Ficek’s own label, The Sycamore Club, and will be available in all good record stores. Buoyed by the success of his previous releases, Adam intends to insure that the personal and uncompromised relationship he has built-up with his audience goes from strength to strength. “The main ethos behind the music is that it exists in a community between artist and fan. I’ve never been into the ‘look at me’ school of music. I want the music and concept to exist in a two-way, all-encompassing community workshop.”
In this candidly imagined and skillfully executed album – indebted to a vision of England that would make Ray Davies proud – the swelling ranks of the Roses Kings Castles community have undoubtedly found a voice fit for the task of uniting them.
Adam Ficek’s track-by-track guide to Roses Kings Castles:
‘Entroubled’: “A poptastic narrative on the troubles of the world. It has grit, spit, polish and glitter all wrapped up in a melodic gobstopper.”
‘Horses’: “It's nothing at all to do with horses! One of my earliest songs, a slightly shamblesque swing with a brooding chorus.”
‘Sparkling Bootz’: “A swaggered pop song with Steptoe undertones.”
‘Broken Homes’: “It reminds me of living in Essex. It's all very suburban, sullen and melancholic, with a silver lining.”
‘Burn Your Town Down’: “An ever-changing chameleon of a song. It’s a miniature classical sonata.”
‘Brass Winter’: “It's about a dream I had of someone involved in a car accident at Christmas.”
‘Run and Hide’: “Motown meets the Housemartins – a pop jive shuffle. It's about liars.”
‘Never Certain’: “[Singer-songwriter] Catherine Feeny makes this punkier song exist in the place where it was destined. A Smiths-esque stomper.”
‘Folk Song’: “This was directly influenced by the English folk scene of the late fifties; Davey Graham, Bert Jansch. Thanks for the lessons, Bert.”
‘Fool's Revenge’: “My psychedelic parting shot, lots of big choruses, big verses, and a drum-laden outro.”
Go check out www.myspace.com/roseskingscastles and
www.myspace.com/djadamficek!
I'm really excited to be posting these because I'm a huge fan... I need to order the album asap... as do YOU! Tell me what you think! I'm hoping to be in contact with Mr Ficek soon so perhaps we'll have more goodies or information for you :) Keep checking in!
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