Filthy Tricks - Leah
Filthy Tricks are a hard hitting fivepiece indie rock and roll band from the beating industrial heart of Warrington. Originally formed back in 2016, they returned in 2018 with some new faces, sounding bigger, better and bolder and oozing rock‘n’roll soul that the genre desperately needs.
The band are Liam Rimmer (vocals), Gerard Van Den Hoek (guitar/vocals), Matty Hignett (guitar), Chris James (bass) and Chris Peake (drums).
The band’s influences range from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, to Sly & the Family Stone and The Violent Femmes.
The band recorded their debut EP Run The River at Red City Recordings in Manchester and was released on 29th June 2019, with the EP showing the band’s range of influences and sounds across its four tracks.
Filthy Tricks have been gigging for less than twelve months but have already gained a lot of attention for their energetic performances. As well as headlining shows close to home at LiveBar, Fat Cat Ballroom and The Lounge in Warrington, they’ve also headlined Night & Day Cafe in Manchester and Liverpool’s Zanzibar. After their set at Warrington Music Festival, Mike Bee (guitarist of Winachi Tribe) described the lads as a “power house of a band!”
Their last release Walk In Line got 2020 off to a flying start when local rugby league team Warrington Wolves used it to soundtrack their 2020 season promotional video.
Leah the new single is released today, Friday 8 May 2020 and the lyrics for this one come from an extremely personal place for guitarist and songwriter Gerard Van Den Hoek, who explains how a trip to Australia had a profound effect on him:
Leah is about changes in myself and meeting a very special person that’s come into my life and made a massive impact. A couple of years ago, before we reformed Filthy Tricks, I was in a bad place and didn’t realise until the band and friendships slowly started to crumble beneath me. That was down to me and my weekend ways, always putting those nights out before the important things that I had in front of me. So I finally had had enough and was sick of being stuck in the mud, so I decided to take a year out from everything and go travelling in Australia to sort my head out and wake up a little, because you only get one crack of the whip in life, and that was going to be in music with Filthy Tricks for me. It still remains the best thing I’ve ever done because I cut ties with a lot of people and I’ve never been so driven to achieve this dream of mine and now it’s paying off. Not long after I came back from Australia I met my now girlfriend who was the biggest impact that shaped me into who I am today. Her name is not Leah, let’s get that straight, I just couldn’t sing out her name, that’s far too Cheddar cheese! The chorus Leah actually originated from a chant me and some pals in Australia sung when we were in Bundaberg doing our farm work for a second year visa, the words used to be something else but I since changed it to suit the song. So all in all this song is powerful. It covers two massive impacts in my life and essentially has lead me to this point to share with the world, and it’s one hell of an anthem that will forever be recognised.
The band once again took up camp at Red City Recording in Manchester, with producer Dave Radahd-Jones at the helm. The band got to work on three songs, but made sure to dedicate the most time on Leah to ensure its perfection. Vocalist Liam Rimmer also commented on the recording process, explaining how much the band enjoy being in the studio:
Chris Peake’s atmospheric drums were laid down first pursued by Chris James’s bass. Those lads always go down smoothly! Next to face the demon of the red recording light was Gerard, there’s always a few laughs when he messes a bit up, however Leah is what I call Gerard's baby, so the schoolboy giggles didn’t last long before we were back on form. With Ged's rhythm down Matty took to the stage to lay down the lead and sounded "bloody lovely" on a twelve string guitar Dave had lying about in the room and added that special something to an already special sound. With the added pressure of knowing how much this song meant to our Ged, I felt I had to smash it moreso! With plenty of Vocalzones, cups of tea with honey and the occasional whisky, the vocals for Leah were laid down and the journey of the track was about to begin for ourselves and our fans. I personally adore getting into a studio with these lads, feeling like a family more and more with every session, making loud noises and trying to draw on Matty’s face when he dozes off, to nipping to the pub to watch the footy when Chris is laying down his drums. It’s just home for us.
Leah opens with a pounding drum beat and a burgeoning guitar riff, leading into Rimmer’s lyrics which are delivered with real emotion. The song builds and builds and is driven along by the melody of the guitar riff, it’s a cracking piece of indie rock, beautifully constructed and delivered with precision that uplifts the song beyond the run of the mill indie sound.
Rimmer talked openly about the inspiration of the song and this comes through in the lyrics of the song when he sings “she danced in the night like a firefly so high on life” and “in all my life I couldn’t be the man to set you free in all my life I’ve been dreaming of wanting you”. And to top things of it has a very catchy chorus “Leah, why don’t we chase tomorrow, Leah, why don’t we chase tomorrow“, which will go down well in the sweaty venues when gigging resumes.
Leah is an absolute belting track, great melodies and emotional lyrics, it’s fantastic and yet another addition to my blossoming playlists, and another must see band in the future.
Give Leah a stream now:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5wzKBHqE1hdXxUcCK8gyKI?si=OfhVqgvDSdyOQ8Xd2bX7UA
Filthy Tricks can be followed on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter:
https://www.facebook.com/filthytricks/