Ripchord (band)
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Ripchord are a four piece band from Wolverhampton. They have been in the eye of the public since 2004 and have supported acts such as The Kooks, Babyshambles and The Kaiser Chiefs. The band took their name from the Radiohead song ‘Ripcord’ and placed a h in the word.
The band are currently signed to 1965 Records. They have, to date, released two singles- Lock Up Your Daughters (And Throw Away the Key) & Backstabber, the first of which was a limited edition single of only 1,000 copies. They have plans to release an album in the near future.
History
Origin
Ripchord initially formed in 2004 when Chris Wallbank, his brother Phil Wallbank, and James Sullivan decided to make a band while they were at school. They went through various line ups before Chris Wallbank left the band to go to University, leaving only Phil and James from the original line up. They attended the same school and knew the bassist, Tom Beal and drummer, Roz Duignan-Pearson as they lived in roughly the same area. Soon after Chris went to university they decided to join the band. They began performing in many spots in the West Midlands, most notably in The Little Civic and The Varsity. They became rather well known around the area and played as many gigs as physically possible around the area during their studies.
BBC & 1965
It was not long before Ripchord had raised enough money from performing to record some demos of their songs at MadHat Recording Studios in Wolverhampton. These demos were sold at gigs and one was sent off to a search for the best young band in the West Midlands in 2005. This search was known as the School Of Rock and as made by the BBC. The search was eventually narrowed down to the six bands that celebrity judges, including Roy Wood and Janice Long, selected. The show concluded with a vote for who the public felt was the best band. Ripchord won this vote and gained the prize of funding for more demos and filming a music video. This gave Ripchord even higher exposure and the BBC asked Ripchord to play a televised Children In Need concert at a later date.
It was at roughly the same time that one of Ripchord’s demos was put on a CD featuring unsigned bands that was given to James Endeacott, the man responsible for signing The Libertines. Endeacott liked Ripchord’s song and went to see them in Wolverhampton only to gain more interest with them. At the time they met he was just leaving Rough Trade but was about to set up his own record label 1965 Records. He asked Ripchord to sign to his new label to which they all agreed.
Tours
Soon after Ripchord signed they began to tour with bands such as The View, who Ripchord befriended as they were both signed to the same label. They also toured with the Twang and The Pigeon Detectives. Arguably the biggest band they have toured with is The Kaiser Chiefs. In the NME Nick Hodgson of The Kaiser Chiefs claimed that he was a fan of Ripchord and thought that front man Phil Wallbank looked very much like a better looking version of him. The Kaiser Chiefs also expressed their fondness of the band when they presented the Zane Lowe show on Radio 1 by opening their show with Lock Up Your Daughters (And Throw Away The Key) followed by a brief speech about the band.
Notable Appearances
Ripchord’s most notable appearances have been within the NME. In one issue Ripchord’s debut single was featured on a free CD highlighting the best bands from 1965 Records. In that very issue there was another article highlighting the best bands in the Midlands. In this issue it showed three artists that NME believed were to be the biggest artists in that area. The bands were Ripchord, The Enemy and The Twang. Phil Wallbank was also once featured in the stalkers section of the NME with an image of a girl meeting him after a Ripchord gig. They were seen in an article of the indie music magazine The Fly, within this article they were called 'One's to Watch'. They were also called the 'new band to watch' by Paul Lester in a piece for the Guardian unlimited. Ripchord have played on Janice Long's Radio 2 show in which they performed three songs acoustically. These were - Backstabber, My Precious Valentine and Just Another Bad Day. They were also one of the featured artists on myspace for a period of time. Ripchord were featured on the Channel 4 show Transmission on Friday 13th April which showed an interview from the band as well as a performance in Legs 11, a strip club in Birmingham.
Members
Phil Wallbank – Lead Singer, Rhythm Guitarist
James Sullivan – Lead Guitarist
Tom Beal – Bassist
Roz Duignan-Pearson - Drums
Releases
So far Ripchord have released two singles.The first single, Lock Up Your Daughters (And Throw Away The Key) was a limited edition vinyl with only 1,00 copies made. The single was recorded in Elevator Studios in Liverpool and produced by legendary producer Ian Broudie. It was mixed by Steve Harris in RAK Studios, London. They received a considerable amount of airplay on Radio 1 for a limited release. and their video was shown to a large extent on MTV2. The video for the single was shot in London and features Ripchord giving out flyers promoting their own single to passers by.
The second single, Backstabber, was released on CD and limited edition vinyl. It was recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and was mixed by James Lewis at Livingstone Studios in London. Ripchord received glowing reviews from the NME about this single, calling it ‘the best riff this week by far’. The video for this single featured a much stronger plot line to it’s predecessor and was filmed in Ripchord’s hometown of Wolverhampton. The shots in which the band are seen performing live in this video are filmed one of the first venues they played in, The Varsity.
