DASTARDS are delighted to welcome their new drummer. His name is Mudie. His first gig with the band will be at the CHAGSTOCK FESTIVAL on July 18th - where the band is supporting Squeeze. Not a bad firsat gig!
DASTARDS (Wake, Jake & George) played 2 acoustic gigs on the same night in Bournemouth on May 3rd. 1st gig was at Bar Vin (which included a couple of covers to please the drunks at the front!).
The band were then rushed to Rubeyz to play the final set at the xposure gig. Here's a video filmed by Radfax (thanks!) of Trouble from that gig:
And what's in store for the DASTARDLY ones? Well - first gig of 2009 is at The Fly in London on Jan 19th. Hope to see you all there.
Then the band is playing to it's 'home crowd' in Worcester on Feb 12th.
Then the first DASTARDS single release since 2007 is on Feb 15th. It's STAYING OUT.
In the summer we are hoping to play some festivals. The first is booked - CHAGSTOCK in July. We're also looking at finally releasing the first (and long awaited) DASTARDS album - plus an accompanying tour in June.
26 November 2008 - DASTARDS play the NEC - MUSIC LIVE 2008
After Festibull - which was great fun, the band were asked to appear at the MUSIC LIVE show at the NEC in Birmingham on 8th November 2008.
Here they are:
20 Oct 2008 - DASTARDS play The FESTBULL FINALS
Lots of activity going on here because of the FESTIBULL competition. DASTARDS made the finals (ahead of 300 other bands) and took part in the final on Sunday 19th October. Now it's down to votes. Please vote here: Festibull.co.uk. Thanks!
14th Oct 2008 - DASTARDS are FESTIBULL FINALISTS
After our meeting last night it was great to receive the email from Kerrang Radio announcing that DASTARDS have beaten over 300 other bands to land a place in the final - taking place on Sat and Sun 18th & 19th Oct.
13th Oct 2008 - DASTARDS BAND MEETING
After the Adam & Eve gig we all got together to remind ourselves why we are doing this. The band are getting better & better. The venues have been getting grottier & grottier. At the meeting we talked about what we all hoped to achieve, how determined we are to make it happen and future strategies. We talked about image, performance and set lists. Now we have to put it all into operation!
28th Sept 2008 DASTARDS UPDATE
A very low point in the life of DASTARDS.
The gig at the Adam & Eve was crap. The venue is drab, there was no drum hardware, so Stoo had no hi-hat. There was no audience - apart from us. Very depressing. We decided to have a band meeting and review the gig strategy.
28th August 2008 DASTARDS Play the Worcester Festival
4 Gig Weekend
Friday 22nd Aug. 'Stretch Records Presents' at the Pheasant in Worcester - as part of the first ever Worcester Music Festival. DASTARDS - together with JAZICA (featuring Chris ex-DASTARD) and COBWEB DILEMMAS. Great gig - well attended. 3 Great bands - all different and talented. PA by Dale & Sam.
28th August 2008 DASTARDS Play the Worcester Festival
4 Gig Weekend
Friday 22nd Aug. 'Stretch Records Presents' at the Pheasant in Worcester - as part of the first ever Worcester Music Festival. DASTARDS - together with JAZICA (featuring Chris ex-DASTARD) and COBWEB DILEMMAS. Great gig - well attended. 3 Great bands - all different and talented. PA by Dale & Sam.
Saturday 23rd Aug. Firefly. Part of the Worcester Music Festival. Here's a video of STAYING OUT live & acoustic (Wake, Jake & George):
Saturday 23rd Aug. The Sound Bar. This was an all-dayer to celebrate PLATFORM PROMOTIONs' first 'birthday'. DASTARDS rocked!
Sunday 24th Aug. Island Bar. Acoustic set from Wake & George.
19th July 2008 DASTARDS UPDATE
FLAPPER gig went amazingly well. New-look DASTARDS on top form. Probably the best they've ever played. Stoo played a blinder and here he is:
WAKE has decided to move to London and moves towards the end of August. He'll come back for rehearsals and gigs. This should mean that we can play more London gigs as WAKE and flatmates will be able to collect an audience.
The next gig is on August 22nd at The Pheasant in Worcester. We're promoting the night (STRETCH RECORDS PRESENTS as part of the Worcester Music Festival) so we need a big local turn out.
The next day Sat 24th Aug, Wake (and the band if poss) will be playing acoustic in the FIREFLY in the afternoon, and then again in the evening at THE SOUND BAR in BIRMINGHAM (not the Flapper now).
24th June 2008 DASTARDS UPDATE
The first gig with the NEW line-up - Wake, Jake, George & Stoo (who has replaced Carla on Drums) at The Tardebigge on 19th June went really well. They all rehearsed together FOR THE FIRST TIME the day before! Next gig is 4th July at The Flapper & Firkin, Birmingham.
We have applied for Popkomm in Germany and The Reeperbahn in Hamburg. Will update you when we've heard back.
Our visit to Cake PR went well and we met Mark Whelan. He'll have a listen and let us know if he thinks he can help.
Jake has finished his A levels now - so we can gig more.
25th April 2008 Update.
Getting lots of excellent reviews on SliceThePie.com. (If you fancy earning a bit of money (a bit!) you can try your hand at reviewing for cash on this site). See our messageboard for some of the reviews.
WAKE has finished a new song The Sympathy March. Check it out and let us know what you think on our message board.
We deliberately haven't booked any gigs in April & May to allow the band to rehearse with the new drummer (CARLA). She's pretty much up to speed now so we'll start booking again.
JAKE the Bass is about to start his A Level Finals - so we're trying hard to give him some space to revise and get the exams out of the way - then we're going to gig gig gig!
GEORGE is another year older - and needs things to happen quickly for the band before he turns into a full-time second-hand car dealer!
And CHRIS .. In or out of the band? We're not sure. So we'll leave it like that for now.
We're also looking for further radio play and other forms of exposure - and we may be getting some help with that. Watch this space for more details.
Just remember. DASTARDS are a shot in the arm for the current music scene. Please spread the word! Thanks.
Stretch
3rd April 2008 STAYING OUT
STAYING OUT will be the next DASTARDS single. You can buy it at IndieStore.com/DASTARDS. Thanks.
1st April 2008 Lots of great feedback from the Kerrang Session
Yes - emails, MySpace requests and texts - all because of the Kerrang Session. So - THANKS Kerrang (who must be one of the few commercial Radio Stations actually supporting and encouraging New Music - and emerging artists. If you know of any more - let us know and we'll talk to them too!)
Band is booked for the Worcester Festival on 22nd August at The Pheasant. Should be a good gig. Already know lots of people who will be coming.
18 March 2008 DASTARDS Carla joined band briefly on drums. And we said farewell to Nick who has been with the band for the last few months. Thanks Nick.
9 March 2008 DASTARDS Live Session at Kerrang Radio
DASTARDS were asked by Kerrang Radio to record a 'live' acoustic track. Wake, Jake & George laid down their tracks for FLASHLIGHTS and were then interviewed in a 'robust' manner by the presenter of 'The Night Before' show. We counted the name 'DASTARDS' mentioned about 37 times! Listen out for us on Thursday 27th March when it's due to be broadcast. And tell all your mates!
George & Jake @ Kerrang (pic by Stretch 9 March 2007)
Wake @ Kerrang (pic by Stretch 9 March 2007)
6 March 2008 Kerrang!
Kerrang Radio have contacted us and want to do a session / interview. Will let you know once the date has been arranged !
Video is nearly complete. We're going to have a look at it on Sunday. The single release (STAYING OUT) date is 16th March. Pre-order it at IndieStore.com/DASTARDS please!
DASTARDS mugs now available in our Merch shop! LOL!
15th Feb 2008 Busy Busy
Getting steady radio play on Kerrang (every week for the last 12 weeks!).
Plus Jack Wakefield is editing the'Staying Out' video. Should be ready by end of Feb.
Wake is working on the next track 'SUCCUMB'. Just wait - it's amazing!
3rd January 2008 Happy & DASTARDLY New Year !
Today we filmed the new DASTARDS video for STAYING OUT at Top Banana in Stourbridge. The premise of the video is the band setting up the gear and then just as the track finishes the band is ready to start playing! Here's a pic.
27th December 2007 Update
Great gig on 23rd Dec down in Boscombe. This was electro-acoustic as Nick couldn't make it so it was WAKE, GEORGE & JAKE. Here are some pics:
Plus. Kerrang plays FLASHLIGHTS for 5 weeks running!
New Video filming date - 3rd Jan. Yes DASTARDSS will be filming a video for 'STAYING OUT' on 3rd Jan at the Top Banana studios.
Wake did a full Breakfast Show stint (with his trusty Sylophone) on Friday December 21st at BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester.
5th Dec 2007 Radio Interviews
We did 28 interviews in London on Wednesday 5th December in conjunction with Ben Jarvis of Stylophone. He did the hard work, then Wake, Chris & George play a few seconds of 'Lonely In-between' on 3 Stylophones. It went down pretty well. And Ben got lots of mentions of the band's name in. So let's hope that both Stylophone sales - and the band's profile benefits from what turned out to be a long day.
28 November 2007 DASTARDS! Update
As well as STAYING OUT getting played on Tom Robinsons show, FLASHLIGHTS was played on Kerrang the same day!
DASTARDS Latest 'LONELY IN-BETWEEN' features a STYLOPHONE duet. STYLOPHONE has just been relaunched. Stretch helped a little bit. So DASTARDS are the first UK band to record a new track using the NEW STYLOPHONE! Listen out for interviews etc. on a radio station near you!
21 November 2007 DASTARDS! Update
OK lots of news since the last update.
We've found a new bass player. His name is Jake. He's 17 and living in Devon. He plays both electric bass and double bass so can join the band for both acoustic and electric gigs. Jake is a great player - and we're lucky to get him.
This means that Matt can finally leave. So - thanks to Matt for his time in the band - and for honouring his committment to stay until we found a replacement. Good luck Matt in your new band.
Plus - Chris is rejoining the band in 2008. Chris was a founder DASTARD and left to go to university - but will now be joining the band on Synth and effects.
Listen out for STAYING OUT on the Tom Robinson show on Saturday 24th November at Midnight.
More news when we get it!
22 October 2007 Dastards Update
Flashlights is out! Let's see if we can dent the charts. (Probably won't - as we're not going to buy lots ourselves - unlike many other bands!!!)
If it doesn't chart, we'll re-release it later when we've got a bigger marketing budget (it's so much better than most of the stuff in the charts it deserves to be re-released and promoted heavily).
The Oct 4th gig went well - considering it was the first outing for the new line-up. (You can see the video of THIS TIME on the video page.
Next gig is on Hallowe'en Night (Oct 31st) at the Wyche Music Sessions (Wyche Inn, Malvern).
Still looking for a new bassist. Matt's hanging on for a while but we need to find someone soon. Interested? Get in touch by email.
Wake is working on the next DASTARDS track. Listen out for it here soon!
1 October 2007 Dastards Update
OK so where are we now? Wake has just finished 'Staying Out'. You can hear it here and on our MySpace page. Flashlights is being released on 21st October. See below for buying details. We're also selling it as a CD single off this site on our CD shop page.
Matt has resigned as bassist - so we're looking for a replacement. 1st gig with the new line-up (including Matt until we gan replace him) is on Thursday Oct 4th at the Tardebigge in Redditch. The band (in a previous guise has played there twice before). Hope we'll see you all there.
6 Sept 2007 Flashlights
Flashlights can be pre-ordered at www.indiestore.com/dastards (Costs 77p) or by texting indie dastards 1 to 78789 (Costs £1.50). It should soon be available on i-tunes too.
"Kraftwerk-esque keyboard line and modern 'electrindie' infectiousness"
23 August 2007 Update!
Rehearsals have been going well. 1st gig with the line up is Oct 4th at the Tardebigge, Redditch. Hope to see you all there. Wake may continue to do the occasional solo gig too (catch him if you can!).
By popular demand Flashlights will be the next single release (on Oct 21st 2007). Watch here for how you can pre-order it.
At last! The 1st Dastards album is nearing completion. Early demo copies have been sent out for review - see Toxic Pete's review HERE.
13 June 2007 - Another New Track!
Not Too Early appeared out of the blue. Wait 6 weeks for 'I Know' then 'Not Too Early' arrives less than 2 weeks later!
"Their song structures were coated with melody and lyrics to match. Songs tell stories. There seems to be chemistry in their music that just plain caught my attention .." David Anderson, Reviewer ....More
7th May 2007 Wake & Matt perform at Party In the Park
Wake & Matt perform together for the first time at Party in the Park, Stourbridge.
The rain kept off just long enough for Wake to do his normal solo set (with a few new tracks) plus Matt on BV's.
Also on the bill were Caroline 7, Dale Perry and his Amazing Friends, Andrew Long and many more!
25th April 2007 New Bassist & New Band Develops
After the success of the debut single Wake has been joined by ex-Jacks Legacy bass player Matt Dastard. More detail about Matt on the 'band members' page. Now looking for a drummer and maybe a lead guitarist too. We've already had 17 drummers so a few more won't go amiss. Actually we'd just like one, who is really good at playing drums, reliable and committed - but we know there isn't one out there ... (OK, so prove us wrong!)
18th March 2007 Debut Single 'What I Came For' Released !
The Dastards first single (which the band has been performing live since Autumn 2005) is released today. The single is selling on Indiestore.com/Dastards.
All sales count towards the chart - so if you haven't got yours yet - please buy it now.
Thank you.
15th March 2007 Interview & Video at Monochrome Museum
Yesterday we went to Monochrome Museum to record an interview with John & Moll. The video and one track was filmed by Peej of Abstract Reaction. Our big thanks to all 3 of them.
7th March 2007 Press Release Goes Out
Press Release issued about the single launch to selected press, radio and media through Stretch Marketing.
Our objective ? To increase awareness of Dastards for this single and for future releases.
All press enquiries to Stretch or Sara at info@stretchrecords.co.uk 1st March 2007 Countdown Begins!
The single is selling on Indiestore.com/Dastards. If you haven't pre-ordered your download yet - please do it right now!. We'll wait here while you do it ....
... Done it? Thanks.
Here's the artwork for the cover:
Also! Now you can by Dastards Merchandise (tee-shirts, bags, thongs! etc.). Show them you're a Dastard - wear a Dastards shirt! Click here to see the range. If there's anything not there that y7ou'd like - l;et us know and we'll create it!
15th Feb 2007 Robin Reviews
"Of the many acoustic acts a few stood out, such as Wake (lead singer of The Dastards) who played Poppy songs akin to Green Day light, and as a result was one of the more commercially viable acoustic artists on the day." - Zak
"One of the first solo artists who appeared was Wake of The Dastards. This young man really surprised me. He's very unique with not just his vocals but also his style. He reminded me of a very young Miles Hunt... minus the bad attitude! There was a snarly Britishness to his voice which was easily noticed when he delivered some of his excellent lines." - Carl BeeBee
2nd Feb 2007 Pre-Order the 1st Single
'What I Came For' released on March 18th. Preorder it now at:
Yes - we collected it today! We'll get it on the site as soon as we can. It looks great!
19th December Editing day.
Yes. The final edit for the 1st Dastards Video at the Top Banana studios / editing suite in Stourbridge. Cool!!
28th November Dastards Video Shoot
7.00am start in Worcester. Top Banana were already scoping out the locations (in the dark) when we arrived. Shooting started around 8.00am in the corner shop. Chris had come up from Southampton the night before (thanks Chris) and we used Top Banana Carli's (and Ben's) house as base camp for the day.
Shooting took all day with various scenes. David Rann came (thanks David) and took some stills (and showed us his first shots of new baby Eve!).
At the end of the day - with the filming completed and everyone completely knackered - we all slid away to await the editing!
Photo session with ace photographer David Rann in Wolverhampton. We took some shots too - and this is one of ours. Will add David's as soon as they are available.
7th Oct 2006 Web Site Changes
Yep - we decided to put a player on the front page. Well, this is supposed to be about the music - so there it is right up front. If you let it run, it'll play through all of the tracks listed. No need to go anywhere else! What do you think? Let us know on the messageboard/forum.
Stretch
10 Sept 2006 Give Back Project
Sunday 10th Sept. Wake auditions for the Give Back Project at the Madhouse Studio's in Birmingham. Quite scary for a 19 year old to be singing and playing in front of the two promoters of this project. We'll let you know if Wake goes through ...
25 August 2006 Popworld Promotes
"I like the singer’s voice, and I like the name. And the 80’s synth arpeggios are pretty incredible. can’t tell if I love them or just find them funny, though. 6,000 points" - Damian (from the OK Go's with the great 'Treadmill' video!)
7 August 2006 7 Digital Mailout
"Hand Picked Gems
Dastards Dastards Indiestore - Great name, tunes that rattle along in a rather pleasing way helped in no small part by a cracking voice. Reminds us of Jon Anderson. Ask your dad, he’ll explain." - indiestore mailout
5th July 2006 'Trouble at the BBC' Video Added
Wake recorded this at the BBC on Jan 13th 2006. Thought you might like to see it ...
What a great number 'Flashlights' is. It's as commercial as hell and once again shows what this sonofa' has to offer the music world.
Dastards can be a solo project or full-blown band or anything in between. But there's no doubt whatsoever that the heart and driving force of Dastards is the unique and exciting singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Wake. And this guy is something quite special, very special, frighteningly special!! And scarily, there's some growing still to be done yet but I just know that Wake, (Dastards in whatever form), has been gifted with a lot more than his fair share of all round musical talent and a great deal of ambition - and grow he will.
'Flashlights' is rammed full of good things. It's bulging with interest; right from the pop-synth intro, through the nu-folk undertones and onto the catchy, melodic indie/rock vibe it's fantastic! .... More
18th June 2006 Flashlights !
Wake's been working had at recording and Flashlights is now on the site to dowmload. Already described as 'Amazing' and the listener felt 'like that guy in the 70s Maxell advert who gets blown away in his chair by the recording.' so we know it's good! Let us know what you think on the message board
Top Banana are setting up the story boards and locations for the 'What I Came For' video (and Wake is re-recording it - just to make it even better).
30th May 2006 Wake Solo Gig
Wake performed solo for the first time (officially) on Sunday 28th of May at the Broadway '2-Dayer' event and what a performance!
Without the backing of the band Wake's voice can really be heard and it sounds just like it does in the recordings. He held the audience spellbound during his 30 minute set which included 2 songs that he's never sung live before. So decision time. Solo or Full Band?
17th May 2006 Video Meet
We met up with Top Banana in the Midlands who will be making the video for What I Came For. It's all about tins of beans. (All will be revealed in due course). Hopefully it will be filmed in the next week or two.
12th May 2006 Track Finished
Wrapped Up is now wrapped up and ready to go. Here is a link to it:
Let us know what you think on the Message Board. Summer Hit?
4th May 2006 Recording
Wake spent the day in the studio (FFG - Cheltenham) yesterday re-recording the vocals for What I Came For (Wrapped Up). This is going to be the first single released by the Dastards and we want the recording quality to be as excellent as possible.
Dave Draper at FFG was a real star (and very patient with Wake - who is very picky about how his vocals sound!). As soon as the finished track is ready, we'll put it up on the downloads page.
What do you think? Comments please - on the messageboard.
Party in the Park - Stourbridge Bank Holiday Monday May 1st. Should be a great day out.
Wake is booked into FFG studio's to re-do the vocals on What I Came For (Wrapped Up) next week. And we're planning on starting the video week commencing May 8th at Top Banana, Stourbridge.
17th April 2006 Busy Busy Busy!
Yep - we've been busy. Went to the Create Awards Final on 6th April. Didn't win - but lots of people in the Ad Agency business have now heard of the Dastards. Monday 10th April, Worcester Evening News photographer came to take some pics of the band. Then (same night) went to FFG studios near Cheltenham. Met Dave & David and Toxic Pete. Useful evening and that's the studio we'll use when we need to. Tuesday 11th Worcester Evening News called (Joby Mullen) to interview Wake. Friday 14th the article appeared. (See Press Page for the article). Sunday 16th of April Wake starts to write and record the Dastards World Cup song -'Come on England'. Watch this space!!! 4th April 2006 Pulse Radio
The Dastards were interviewed by Ian at Pulse Radio (1350AM) and Wake played 3 acoustic tracks (Scaffolds of Muscle, Change Coming On, and What I Came For). Thanks to all at Pulse for having us! 3rd April 2006
After successfully headlining at the Broadway on Friday the 31st - at a great gig also featuring James Rea, The BeachMonks, One Man Down and Thought Parade, the Dastards are
not gigging again until May. This will allow some practice, some song writing
and for Marc the new drummer to learn the rest of the set!
Meanwhile we at Stretch will be working twice as hard to promote the band and
the Trouble EP. Listen out for us on Pulse Radio (tomorrow 4th April).
28th March 2006
Battle of the Bands - Marrs Bar, Worcester
The band were asked to take part in a battle of the bands competition at the Marrs Bar, Worcester as last minute replacements for Hey Pablo - who dropped out. Although Dan on bass and new drummer Marc were already committed (so couldn't make it) Wake and Chris took to the stage as a duo.
The audience took the opportunity of the acoustic duo to talk all the way through the performance (although 1 or 2 music lovers did actually listen). The band were interviewed afterwards by the ebullient Robbie Turner. Then the results came the next day. The band didn't go through. How do we feel? A bit disappointed that somehow we didn't get the message across, that people didn't listen and so didn't appreciate something that is way more original than the other bands on the night. No worries though - we're interested in bigger and better things. (One Judge emailed us afterwards and said the band were top of his list). Onwards and upwards.
24th March 2006
The Islam programme is called 'Don't Panic, I'm Islamic' and is being aired on BBC 3 on 31st March at 00:25am (24:45). We're not sure if that means late on Thursday night (just after midnight) or late on Friday night - we'll have to check the papers. And we're not sure if the track has been included. The BBC haven't told us. And, if it's Friday night, we won't be able to watch it - as the Dastards are headlining at The Broadway that night! If anyone sees it - let us know. Thanks. The link to the track is lower down this page.
18th Mar 2006 - Dastards Enter 'Band Wars'
The Dastards have a track (This Time) entered in the Student Bands 'Band Wars' competition. Please vote for it here:
Please vote every day. Thanks - we appreciate it!!!!
15th Feb 2006 - BBC approach the Dastards to write Film Track
Yes - the Dastards have been approached by a BBC producer to write a track for - and maybe perform in - a new film drama to air in March 2006 on BBC3.
As time was very short, the track was written, recorded and submitted all in the space of 3 days. We're now waiting to see if it will be included in the film. Watch this space!
Here's a link to the track. (Leave comments on the Message Board!)
Wanna say hello to him? - Then get in touch! 
6 March 2008 Kerrang!
OK so where are we now? Wake has just finished 'Staying Out'. You can hear it 
Flashlights can be pre-ordered at 
Not Too Early appeared out of the blue. Wait 6 weeks for 'I Know' then 'Not Too Early' arrives less than 2 weeks later!
Brand new track called 'I Know' completed and uploaded today. 
7th May 2007 Wake & Matt perform at Party In the Park
The Dastards first single (which the band has been performing live since Autumn 2005) is released today. The single is selling on 
Press Release issued about the single launch to selected press, radio and media through Stretch Marketing. 
"Of the many acoustic acts a few stood out, such as Wake (lead singer of The Dastards) who played Poppy songs akin to Green Day light, and as a result was one of the more commercially viable acoustic artists on the day." - Zak
