Hello Bear - We Held Hands Once, But Then She Got Embarassed

Hailing from Norwich, 4-piece Hello Bear have been plying their trade for a few years now with their quirky power-pop tunes, releasing two albums worth of songs, many of which have titles longer than the songs themselves (my personal favourite being "I Dropped The Screw In The Tuna", a reference that some Nickelodeon kids from the 90s might get), and have played as support for one of our favourite bands, Shonen Knife.

Their latest single follows their penchant for long-winded titles. "We Held Hands Once, But Then She Got Embarrassed" is a fun little pop-punk number that compares being in love to eating lots and lots of sweeties, which given that our dream gig is one in which every table has bowls of Haribo which can be consumed at our own leisure, very much floats our metaphorical boat. It's a hearty piece of uncynical, Green Day/Weezer-esque power punk with a catchy chorus an in infectious optimism.

One suspects though that "Sticky Kisses" would have made for a better, snappier song title, but hey, what do we know?

"We Held Hands Once..." is out now.

Burrows - In the Rugal Folds

Fun fact about LA based four-piece Burroughs: their drummer starred in the music video for "Bounce" by Calvin Harris. Go figure.

Thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on your music taste), the sound of the band is miles away from the knob twiddling of Monsieur Harris. "In the Rugal Folds" is a doom laden post-punk track, in the same vein as White Lies, with a slightly more dancable feel.

"In the Rugal Folds" by Burroughs is available to download for free, and the music video, featuring glitter, girls and gloom, can be seen below.

A Day Overdue - From Now On (Bedroom Eyes)

Every few years, a new band comes along that hopes to become this side of the Atlantic's equivalent to blink-182 or Green Day, adored by legions of screaming teenage fans, and soundtracking their formative years. Pop-punk is a very hard genre to get just right; for every You Me At Six that finds success, there's countless more Go:Audio's out there who disappear without a trace.

The next big hope for the genre is Glaswegian group A Day Overdue, who recently signed to Only Sky Records. The band, and their recent single "From Now On" seems to have all the ingredients required to make it to the top of the genre. The approval of Kerrang! magazine? Check. Touring with fellow pop-punk luminaries like Elliot Minor? Check. Photogenic lead singer? Check. And most importantly, a heavy song with a killer singalong chorus that captures the angst of going through your teenage years? Check, check, check.

A Day Overdue certainly seem to have all the ingredients necessary for staging an assault on the country and the charts. We'll just have to see how far they can take it.