iForward Russia!

¡Forward Russia! are relative anomalies in a corner of the UK music scene rarely afforded its rightful moment in the sun. Where so many independent ‘alternative’ bands spark into so-brief flames of national interest, this Leeds- based quartet achieved the remarkable with their debut album, Give Me A Wall. Critically acclaimed, internationally as well as domestically, the 2006 long- player spawned a pair of Top 40 singles in the UK (‘Nine’, ‘Twelve’) and sold by the truckload.

The band’s composed of members Whiskas (guitar), Tom Woodhead (vocals, keys), Katie Nicholls (drums) and Rob Canning (bass).

With its follow-up Life Processes finished and ready for release into the wider world, the band are reflective, guitarist Whiskas admitting that Give Me A Wall “definitely punched above its weight”. “The success was maybe justified as I think we captured peoples’ imaginations a little bit,” says Whiskas. Vocalist Tom Woodhead adds, “We were probably in the right place at the right time, and we got a lot of breaks.”

Their 11-track sophomore release is a considerable advancement from the scratchily acerbic post-hardcore histrionics of its predecessor, and has been shaped with the assistance of renowned producer Matt Bayles (The Blood Brothers, Mastodon, Minus The Bear, Pearl Jam) in Seattle. Recording with the hugely experienced Bayles appealed greatly to ¡Forward Russia!; forget his enviable past credits, what was especially important was that he had little previous experience of the band, no real frame of reference that could conjure expectations. A clean slate was in place.

Says Woodhead: “Matt has an almost pathological attention to detail. He would not settle for second best, and encouraged us to try anything that we were interested in hearing. He has made us sound better than we have in the past, and our ideas have been conveyed clearly… There was an effort on my part to write more ‘human’ songs. I have always written about experiences, but maybe it wasn’t obvious. Each song (on Life Processes) tries to describe a particular facet of life – things it seems we all go through. The themes are more universal, really – fear, love, hate, pride, nervousness, confusion, and finally acceptance. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end, in a literary sense as well as a musical one. The album begins with fear and confusion; towards the end life is not understood, but it is accepted.”