www.thehedrons.com
The Hedrons music is decidedly one part Ramones-esque brawn, one part
femme-fatale roar, and one part ruthless guitar-driven nerve. Or as lead
guitarist Rosie humorously puts it, “If you listen to us, you wouldn’t realise
it was girls until Tippi starts singing – you’d think it was a bunch of big
hairy guys playing.” And although the girls would personally describe their
sound as the modern love child of the Foo Fighters and Joan Jett, they would
also say that the very same is proudly godfathered by Iggy Pop & The Stooges.
In 2005 The Hedrons were formed in their native Glasgow. With a relentless
gigging schedule, back-to-back Top 5 UK indie singles chart success and an entry
in the Top 40 of the official UK indie album chart with debut album ‘One More
Won’t Kill Us’, the four-piece have established themselves as one of the
country’s foremost emerging rock bands.
In the UK throughout 2006, The Hedrons were the focus of many a press feature
and gained plenty of airplay, including from the likes of Radio 1 and XFM. The
band was first tipped in the NME who said of them 'an all-girl four-piece who
sound like Patti Smith meets Penetration with a dash of early Blondie and a
smidging of The Runaways... you have to hear this band!' Off the back of this
attention and all their touring, The Hedrons were confirmed to perform at
several summer UK summer festivals including Download at Donington, T In The
Park and Guilfest. Of particular significance, the band was invited by the band
Alice In Chains to step in as special guests at their only UK show at the London
Astoria. Overall, The Hedrons satisfied a healthy appetite of over 150 gigs by
the end of the year, accomplishing sell-out status at many venues up and down
the UK / Ireland and generally causing much fan frenzy wherever they appeared.
One of those gigs recently gained special recognition from the 2007 BT Digital
Music Awards, when The Hedrons picked up their first ever music award nomination
for ‘Best Artist Promotion’ alongside Robbie Williams, Stereophonics and David
Gilmour for becoming the first British band ever to play a live, virtual gig as
3-D figures inside the virtual world ‘Second Life’.
Release wise, the band’s first single ‘Be My Friend’ was released in July 2006
on Scottish indie label Measured Records and entered the official UK charts as a
top 20 Indie Single, selling out of its limited edition vinyl pressing as did
the second single ‘I Need You’ that was released in October and entered the same
chart at number 5. A third single ‘Heatseeker’ was released in January 2007 and
achieved identical top 5 indie chart success. The debut album ‘One More Won’t
Kill Us’ was released in February and was met with an official Top 40 indie
album chart position. The album has also been released to much acclaim in Japan,
America and Canada.
This year was kicked off in typical Hedrons fashion with the band hitting the
road in the UK for yet another headline tour. March saw them venture across the
Atlantic for the first time as they flew in for a mini-tour across North
America, including showcases at both Canadian Music Week and SXSW as well as
dates in New York and California. The riotous foursome have been received
extremely well by industry heavy-hitters and college students alike as anyone
could tell from the sell-out attendance at venues like The Key Club and
Spaceland in LA or The Knitting Factory in New York. A killer festival line-up
for the summer started off with a main stage appearance at this year’s Isle Of
Wight festival where they played alongside long time rock idols The Rolling
Stones. The Hedrons then went on to play their second consecutive performance at
Download 2007 and T In The Park, which saw them move up several stages to play
the famous King Tut’s tent. At the end of July, the band have just returned from
their second North American tour to date, where they played to crowds of over
15,000 and festivals such as the Quebec International Summer Fest plus a Club
NME gig. They head back stateside later this month for a West coast tour but not
before they play as special guests to the seminal Sex Pistols at Glasgow’s SECC
arena venue!
Although The Hedrons have just started out in their career, they have already
made a healthy impact on the music scene. And, according to drummer Soup, one
thing’s for sure, “For four girls, we make one hell of a noise.”