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Lay Down the Law

Switches
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews) | More about this product
Price: $9.98 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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Biography

Playing tough, witty, and hook-laden rock that exists in a time warp in which glam rock and Britpop are the talk of the British Isles, Switches is the brainchild of lead singer and guitarist Matt Bishop. Bishop claims he was already writing songs on a tiny guitar made for him by his father (a BBC engineer) at the age of five, and began recording them on a Fisher-Price cassette machine, creating… Read more in Amazon's Switches Store

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Product Details

  • Audio CD (March 18, 2008)
  • Original Release Date: March 18, 2008
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Interscope Records
  • ASIN: B000WDVNNI
  • In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #161,513 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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1. Drama Queen
2. Snakes and Ladders
3. Lay Down the Law
4. Coming Down
5. Need to Be Needed
6. Message from Yuz
7. Every Second Counts
8. Stepkids in Love
9. Lovin' It
10. Killer Karma
11. Testify

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

"Switches spectacularly combine all that is good about British indy (new wave bounce, three part harmonies, guitars that 'chug') with all that is good about US indy (The Pixies, pretty much). We really don't need to remind you how all-powerful such a record could be." (NME) "Well, the idea was a band, but we're really a neurotic bunch of obsessive compulsive weirdo's," Switches singer Matt Bishop says.

The neurotic obsessive-compulsive weirdo's, pulled through impressively and way fantastically, and on February 12, 2008 Switches will release their debut album, Lay Down The Law, produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) on Interscope.

Strangely, Switches, who now all live in London, came together naturally and easily. Matt grew up in Southend (a low-rent seaside town, something like the old Asbury Park neighbourhood) and formed the band while at college: he just sent a group email and chose the people whose responses he liked best. Even if they didn't like the same music.

There's Ollie Thomas, guitar: musical wunderkind aspiring to psychedelic-tinged virtuosity ala Hendrix, but also partial to some tough new wave in the Stranglers and Television. Thom Kirkpatrick, bass: belt and braces, biscuits and tea, Beatles and Ben Folds, he is particularly English, even for someone from Britain. Steve Godfrey, drums, drums and more drums: he personifies his instrument. He likes to drum, drums to live, learned Appetite For Destruction on pencils and saucepans so by the time he got his first kit he could play the record flawlessly.. And Matt: the seventies-leaning songwriter with a love for ELO and 10cc even though he wasn't born while they reigned, and a fully-fledged Child of Britpop.

The varying influences are a natural for Matt. In his teens he wrote hundreds of songs spanning from pop, disco, piano ballads, Beck-esque hip-hop, glam, punk, hardcore and emo. His stacks of homemade tapes were typhoons of conflicting styles. However styles, genres, bin cards and such hadn't quite been established in pre-school - when Matt began playing at age three. At four he's bringing his dad's electric guitar to school (dad was a former BBC engineer), along with his own little Fisher Price recorder. Already Matt loved to multi-track and over-dub when he shouldn't have even known the words. Oh did it make for some funny photos of the weird kid - guitar almost bigger than him!

Product Description

It's the third British invasion, and we're third time lucky, as Switches sound more Beach Boys than Beatles or Blur. They may come from across the water, but the band's self confessed spiritual home is our own west coast so there's sunny harmonies amongst that London grime!

America Turns on to Switches - Combining foot-stomping drums and bass with tight vocals and sharp guitar riffs, Switches are as cocksure as their pop piers - Spin.

The British indie rising stars have created another Brit Pop hit and are making confident future strides with their Switches Swagger. - Filter

Switches are a British band with as much swagger as they have top notch pop tunes to offer. With their debut album Lay Down The Law (Interscope), and a US national tour kicking off in early 2008 with The Bravery then making their way to sunny Texas for SXSW, Switches are sure to inject new life into the indie-pop scene for 2008.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
 (2)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic debut album, April 18, 2008
I found out about Switches a couple weeks ago after hearing the title track "Lay Down the Law" on a local alt-rock radio station, and have been completely hooked to their sound ever since then. Sounding like a blend between Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, and a cluster of classic rock bands, Switches deliver a fresh style of raw energetic rock which is both catchy and intermittently irresistible to bounce to. The album opens with the single "Drama Queen", which starts the disc off strong and already paves the way for the ten more incredible tracks to follow. Although "Drama Queen" would easily qualify as my favorite song off the album, the quality of Lay Down the Law does not end after track one. It also reaches high points at the title track (an especially Franz Ferdinand-esque jam) and Message from Yuz, which has a massively memorable guitar riff and sounds exceptionally in the style of The Hives (if it had been a Hives song, it would now be my favorite Hives song). The entirety of the CD is not just fun guitar riffs and toe-tappers, however; there are also a couple slightly softer pieces with acoustic guitar such as "Killer Karma", and songs which seem to carry some classic rock vibes and influences such as "The Need to Be Needed". This band seems way too talented to be so obscure, and since they're new to the music scene I predict that they could have some very widely known releases in the future if for some reason this album doesn't gain widespread attention. At any rate, this is a fantastic CD and I highly recommend it to any fan of alt-rock. Five stars.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars NICE TO KNOW SOMEONE WAS PAYING ATTENTION, April 15, 2008
By R. J. Werner (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Remember T.Rex? or Sweet? or ELO? Ever wonder what the result would be if their musical influences slept together? Buy this album, and you'll find out by the time the first 20 seconds have elapsed. Good stuff, indeed!
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4.0 out of 5 stars Killer Single, Good Rest-of-Album, July 18, 2009
By Mr Whale Jr (Savannah, GA United States) - See all my reviews
The single to this album, "Lay Down the Law" kicks you in the face, Franz Ferdinand style, and rocks pretty hard. It lives up to the wicked punch being shown the album art, and leads you to expect the whole experience is going to have the same blast to it.

The rest of the album doesn't quite live up to that. It's well-made power-pop: some of it takes awhile to sink into your brain, the music is layered and crafted in a vaguely Brit-pop style. And really- once you get past the 5-star nature of the single (which, have I mentioned, I really like)- everything else is on par with each other. There's not a weak track there; if the style of music is what you're into. "Snakes and Ladders" is a step down, I suppose, but it's just 'cause I'm not buying into "Snakes and Ladders" being a good phrase to be repeated in a chorus. "Killer Karma" is a mild step up, 'cause I really like the lyrics.

If you're on the fence, definitely buy it from a reseller, they're selling the CD for pretty unbeatable price.
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Lay Down the Law opens new browser window is one of Switches' opens new browser window 5 releases. Browse Switches' Discography opens new browser window and watch Switches videos opens new browser window on SoundUnwound.

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