Viva Brother set for Birmingham HMV Institute gig

Loud, opinionated and bringing Britpop back, Viva Brother are dividing opinion, but wouldn't have it any other way. . .

Last November, a video did the rounds on YouTube of an unknown band called Brother dragging their amps and instruments to an empty car park in Slough, plugging in and playing.

In between shots of them performing were mini-interviews with the quartet bemoaning their old, mundane jobs, smoking and railing against "The Man" who'd told them to turn down their racket.

The video was like something from 1996; the laddish foursome looked more like Ocean Colour Scene impersonators than a new band from 2010, and their music didn't seem to belong in this century either, all snarling Liam Gallagher-esque vowels, chiming guitars and melodic, anthemic choruses.

While music journalists all over the country held their heads in their hands and wondered if the last 15 years had been in vain, a new generation of music fans liked what they heard.Viva Brother, as they're now called thanks to a recent name change due to a lawsuit, have arrived, whether the music press likes it or not.

And their debut album Famous First Words, which was released on Monday, suggests they're going to be around for a good while longer, including a UK tour that calls at Birmingham's HMV Institute on September 28.

"That video did work in our favour," says drummer Frank Colucci.

Normal mouthpiece and singer of the band Lee Newell is currently still in bed and resting his sore throat ahead of the band's US tour. They now share out the interviews among them, as constant talking was proving too much of a strain on Newell's voice.

"Any press is good press, so in that sense we were very happy with the reaction that video got," says Colucci, aged 22.

"We always knew we'd be a band that split people, that people loved or hated.

"No one remembers the boring in-between bands that people don't mind."

The band have been in the US for almost a week now, arriving to play on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the nightly talk show with an audience of more than two million.

Since last year, Viva Brother have been flying backwards and forwards between the UK and US, promoting their music with as much enthusiasm on both sides of the Atlantic.

"It was something we were always keen to do. To build something in one place, then have to start afresh in another, didn't appeal to us," continues Colucci. "We'd rather put the extra effort in and do both, which means more travelling, but also more fun as well.

"Life on the road in Viva Brother is entertaining. We never get bored! Surprisingly, we don't argue either. If the rot was going to set in, it would've done by now."

Audiences in America are lapping up Viva Brother's typically English sensibilities. From the way they dress and speak to the music they make, Colucci admits the band are something of a novelty to their US admirers.

"They like the fact we sound so typically English. I think Americans like things to be exaggerated; the size of their cars, their portions of food . . . everything is done on such a big scale and I think they see us as an exaggerated version of an English band," he explains.

Famous First Words is a bratty, youthful album with nods to the likes of Blur, Supergrass and Shed Seven.

"We do get compared to Oasis, but I think that has more to do with an attitude, and the fact Lee wore round sunglasses in our first ever photoshoot," he says.

Produced by Stephen Street, who famously worked with The Smiths, Blur and The Cranberries, Famous First Words was recorded without a hitch, says Colucci. Street helped round off the band's corners to bring together their songs.

"Our music does sound English, and the people we meet seem more entertained by us because of where we're from. For the same reasons, I think we divide people in the UK. There's love from one sector, and resistance from another.

"We're not a novelty to anyone over here. We've never censored our opinions in the press, and some people only see that and don't want to listen to the music, but others just appreciate the music whether they like what we say or not."