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A new release on a new label for north-west three-piece 'I Am Kloot' as Skinny Dog Records of Leeds unleash two new tunes from the pen of the boy Bramwell.

Maybe I Should by I Am Kloot

Manchester based three-piece I Am Kloot follow up their recent short UK tour with the release of a brand new double ‘a’ side single – the (reasonably) swift follow up to this year’s much applauded Gods & Monsters long-player.

I Am Kloot, also known as: John Bramwell (songwriter, singer and guitarist), Peter Jobson (bass, occasional keyboards) and Andy Hargreaves (drums) previewed a scattering of brand new songs on their dates in Glasgow, London and Manchester – and were joined by Troupe and King Biscuit Time. The Manchester and London shows also featured a guest appearance by the man behind the production on this new single – none other than Elbow’s Guy Harvey.

Elbow

The two tracks that make this single up are: Maybe I Should and Strange Little Girl (not a Stranglers cover). The whole thing was produced and engineered by Guy Garvey and Craig Potter – also from Elbow - at Salford’s Blueprint Studio.

The tunes – as usual - are penned by Kloot frontman, former member of Ignition, The Face Brothers, Five Go off to Play Guitar and The Mouth (where he was one of two vocalists, no less!) John Bramwell. Aside from this impressive list the man currently treading the boards (occasionally accompanied by an empty crate) was a solo performer of considerable repute, trading as ‘Johnny Dangerously’, named after the 1984 ‘30's-set gangster movie. In this incarnation he released a glorious single Black & Blue and a tragically never re-issued mini album You, Me and the Alarm Clock.

Upbeat

Manchester’s independent Oldham Street based Piccadilly Records called this “...an upbeat new-wave jingle jangle (almost) skank from Johnny - the bard of Manchester.”

Also formerly a member of the Last Poets Society (also featuring Lemn Sissay and the author of New Maps of Heaven, Mr. Henry Normal), a one-time regional televison presenter (Granada’s late-night sub Word show Juice) in the early 90’s and promoter of the ‘Acoustica Mancunia’ night at Manchester’s’ Night and Day Cafe for a couple of years in the late 90’s. It was in this environment – without a band himself, but with plenty of bands around the place, that he founded the three - piece we now know as I Am Kloot.

The last home dates by the band culminated in their biggest UK headlining show to date – at London’s Astoria. ‘Kloot are currently on the road in continental Europe with Ian Brown. The group are accompanying the former Stone Roses frontman through Holland, Belgium, Denmark and Germany – but it won’t be long before they’re back, with more tunes than you can shake a stick at, here in the UK. Catch them if you can. Failing that, track down a copy of the two-disc CD version of their last album (Gods And Monsters) which features a cracking full concert recorded in the Ritz ballroom in Manchester two years ago and will give you a very good idea of just exactly what you’re missing.

Here's what the critics have been saying about I Am Kloot:

“Head and shoulders above most of the competition...Rarely has a lack of popular success been so baffling." - The Metro newspaper.

"...if critical plaudits were album sales I Am Kloot would be pulled along in carriages made of gold records..." – London listings magazine Time Out.

“This collection makes clear that their main themes of death, inadequacy and most things hopeless have barely changed over the decade...Here the band sounds more heart wrecked than ever. Even when the drums do come tumbling, as on Life In A Day, the band sounds like the Stone Roses on a death trip. A seriously melancholy yet utterly delicate and beautiful decade indeed." Clash Magazine (reviewing The BBC Sessions CD).

"Everyday epics from another one-time busker; the very small but enormously talented Johnny Bramwell, the frontman of the best band to come out of Manchester in the last twenty years." - The Independent newspaper (22/01/07)

John Harold Arnold Bramwell – a (selected) discography

Johnny Dangerously with deBuchias - Introducing Jane - 12" three track single (Village Records, 1990)
Johnny Dangerously solo - You, Me and the Alarm Clock 12” vinyl only six-track mini album (1988?)
The Mouth - Bang/Never On Time 7" (1995)
I Am Kloot - Titanic/To You 7” (1999)
I Am Kloot - Natural History – CD, LP (2001)
I Am Kloot - I Am Kloot CD, LP (2003) – initially available as black and white double vinyl discs.
I Am Kloot - Gods And Monsters – CD, LP and 2-DISC CD/DVD (live at The Ritz 2003, plus promotional clips) double pack (2005)
I Am Kloot - Over My Shoulder - 2x7” featuring different b-sides: Junk Culture and Stop Taking Photographs - two tracks that only otherwise appear as extras on the Pony Canyon release of Gods and Monsters in Japan. Apart from being great tracks in themselves fans with long memories might recall an earlier solo version of Junk Culture from the You, Me and the Alarm Clock record.
I Am Kloot - Maybe I Should - 7”, CD and download
I Am Kloot - BBC Radio 1 John Peel Sessions CD
I Am Kloot - I Am Kloot Play Moolah Rouge - limited edition digipack (of 2,000) live CD recorded at Stockport's Moolah Rouge studios, initially only available at concerts in Autumn 2007 - going for big sums on eBay. (2007)

For more information you could do a lot worse than check out: www.iamkloot.com – which features pictures taken at recent gigs, sound clips, guitar chords and song lyrics, links to video interview material, a full discography and all the up to date news and tour/release dates you could need.

New single Maybe I Should is out now as a vinyl 7”, CD and download, from Skinny Dog Records.

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