About

Like the Flying Burrito Brothers with hips, like Van Morrison letting loose with some back-street white-boy soul shouting, The Basement embody the best from the past while thrusting it into the present. In January 2007, Americans will get their first taste of a band that has already garnered heaps of praise from the UK's leading music press.

Several years ago, before they were called The Basement, John Mullin, (singer, guitarist and song-writer), Mark McCausland (lead guitar) and Declan McManus (drums) got together in their hometown of Omagh Ireland, knowing they wanted to do something with music. "We decided to decamp to Liverpool the first chance we got," says Mullin. "There was no real mystical reason for Liverpool. It was the first place we hit land after Ireland." It was a fortuitous place to settle. Within a few months, they met bassist Graeme Hassall and began to rehearse day and night. Living in "a proper shit-hole" (their flat, not the city), they started to make a name on Liverpool’s rich, rising scene.

Rather than pick up the Britpop baton of yesteryear John would rather flick through Dad’s collection of dusty LPs. ‘We skipped most of the 90s, music-wise. There were some good bands but there was something about that period that didn’t appeal to us, even though we sort of grew up through it’. Thus the seeds of The Basement’s interest sprang more from the roots of the fathers of blues and soul. Jangly, foot-stomping numbers like Do You Think You're Movin' On and Just Caught A Face showcase The Basement's rawkus live energy topped with Mullin’s throaty, distinctive voice while a heart breaking ballad like It's A Kinda Love announce John as a songwriter on par with his idols.

With their debut album Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs set for US release in the Spring via Zealous Records, this 5 track EP gives US audiences a rare advance glimpse of a young band on the verge of something very great indeed.

Track Listing

	1. Do You Think You're Movin' On? (full)
	2. Close The door
	3. Just Caught A Face
	4. It's A Kinda Love
	5. Bringing Out The Dead