LOUIS AND THE SHAKES RELEASE NEW SINGLE/VIDEO “HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT IT?”
11th February 2021 – Louis and the Shakes are a visceral indie band quartet, made up of Louis Antoniou on lead vocals, Jamie Lawson on lead guitar, Manny O’Donnell as drummer and Will Finnerty on bass. The band are shaking up the mainstream with their infectious hard-hitting riffs born from the western psychedelic rock world
Louis and the Shakes first made their mark at the start of 2019 with an introduction EP of bluesy 60s influenced rock, which had support from the likes of BBC Introducing, Radio X and This Feeling. The four-piece band has since gone back into the studio to create new music, and the first single from the upcoming album of the same name ‘How Badly Do You Want It?’ is set to be released on 4th March 2021, available across all downloading and streaming services.
“How Badly Do You Want It?” was written by Watford born singer-songwriter Louis; an uptempo, indie/Americana rock song. Their low-fidelity approach to recording and performing blends indie rock with the subtle influences from the nomadic gun-slinging cowboys of the ‘Old West’ genre. This Western inspired sound is undeniably distinctive, fronted by Louis’ unique characteristics on vocals and supported by the fierce tremolo of the guitar and the power of the rolling sound of the drums. Lyrically the song is encouraging the listener to keep going, keep believing and never give up, which will resonate in particular with today’s audience.
The single was produced by Michael Smith, who has also produced on tracks for Wolf Alice and Weird Milk, and was mastered by Pete Maher, who has mastered an array of acts such as U2, Jack White, The Killers & Noel Gallagher.
Releasing this single signifies the start of another exciting year for the band, who this year signed a distribution deal with Absolute Label Services. The London based quartet stamped their mark at the beginning of 2020, releasing their infectious single ‘Snake Hips,’ which instantly gained national radio play (Radio X & BBC Introducing) and media syncs.
Lead singer Louis said of the new single:
“I made the concept up quite a while ago and it was actually one of the first signs of our new wave of sound on the album. I’ve always had a bluesy streak and I think you can hear that in this tune particularly – the simplicity of the claps and the ‘tribal’ backing vocals in the verses.
“The song was all about questioning yourself, and also for the band to question ourselves. At the time of writing it, we were experiencing a few obstacles and we were trailing down a bit of a bumpy road and then as soon as Snake Hips came out and we started to see the beginnings of something. Covid came…So lyrically it’s all about keeping going, keep believing and never giving up. Instead of resting on our laurels we thought let’s get in the studio and record this album.
“I was conscious of writing a song that meant something to people, in particular after the year we’ve all had. We wanted to create a feeling that everyone can get on board with, a song with hope, that had meaning for the times we are living in.
“We also had our live element in mind. We love entertaining and this song has all the ingredients to go down a storm when we get to play live again.”
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
