About this Event

Hooton Tennis Club

plus The Parrots // 1980's European Skiing Holiday



http://www.theboileroom.net/listings/events/20-oct-15-hooton-tennis-club-the-boileroom/



Hooton Tennis Club sing about the small details of life. Theirs is a world in which curious observational lyrics abound; poetic riddles and wry nuggets that contort the banality of everyday existence while never succumbing to cynicism. Quite the opposite in fact: Hooton’s songs are bathed in sunlight, and find romance where others see squalor.



Their debut album Highest Point In Cliff Town is the sound of the summer of adolescence slipping into the autumn of adulthood. Here the wit of Kurt Vonnegut and twisted storytelling of Wes Anderson collide to tell tales of banal jobs, relationships, memorable parties and passing characters. The song titles alone read like the opening lines of classic novels not yet written: ‘Something Much Quicker Than Anyone But Jennifer Could Imagine’, for example, or the F. Scott Fitzgerald-esque ‘And Then Camilla Drew Fourteen Dots On Her Knees’ and ‘Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair’.



These knowing titles belie a keen ear for a song. Make no mistake: this is classic underdog indie music - melodic, fragile, wonky, witty, poetic, pop. Definitely, defiantly pop. Skewed melodies and oddball narratives combine in perfect symbiotic musical harmony, each song a small burst of sunshine to warm the coldest of hearts. Think Teenage Fanclub, Guided By Voices, Pavement, Randy Newman, Big Star, Silver Jews – but birthed in northern English towns in the 21st century.



From Chester and Ellesmere Port, Hooton Tennis Club grew up together. They shared record collections, went on school trips, bonded over a shared love of I Should Coco by Supergrass and played in a number of bands with improbable names. While studying at various colleges they speedily recorded some songs to upload with no intention of ever being an actual ‘band’. Their name was inspired by a sign for the tennis club in Little Sutton, Cheshire. No secret explanation. No hidden messages. No grand plans.

These rudimentary recordings caught the ear of Edge Hill University lecturer and bassist in The Farm Carl Hunter, then in the process of launching a uni-based record imprint, The Label Recordings. Hooton Tennis Club released the aforementioned ‘Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair’ as a limited debut single via the label in early 2014.



The song was written by singer Ryan Murphy – who was born in Berlin on the hour that the Berlin wall came down – after he had hitchhiked home through France. He had been touring with Robbie Williams while working for a company who recorded live shows to sell on CD straight afterwards. (“I went hiking with Robbie, got pally with Olly Murs,” he told NME. “Taught him the difference between ice cream and sorbet.”). Prolonging his continental wanderings he landed at James’s house in Cambridge and out popped the song.



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