Hurricane #1 are back with their brand new single What Do You Think Of Me? It’s a Beach Boys-influenced track and is described by the band as “sublime” and “very catchy and radio-friendly”. It’s reminiscent of that Californian 1960’s sound.
But this is not nostalgia in any way or form. It sounds old but new at the same time. With beautiful chord structures and melody that, at best, will be forevermore in your thoughts. This is one hell of a catchy love song.
The single is taken from their forthcoming album Can’t Get There from Here (release planned for April 5th, 2024) and has already picked up BBC support from Richard Latto’s Stereo Underground show and a plethora of other local and community radio stations all over the UK and beyond.
With creative energy reflective of their name, HURRICANE#1 swept across into the indie/Brit pop scene after emerging in 1997. Formed by Alex Lowe and former Ride Member Andy Bell, the band signed to Creation Records, the infamous Alan McGee label which housed the likes of Oasis, Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub.
Cue a lively line of singles breaching the UK Top 50, including the classic, ‘Step into my world’, and similarly well-received and successful albums across the mid to late 90’s.
They cast a Brit-pop/alternative rock-nurtured sound, which, with its and the band’s bold individuality, equally took eager hold of live audiences, the band subsequently touring the world as well as sharing stages with contemporaries such as Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene, and Embrace.
They were leaving an indelible mark on the UK indie scene, which the splitting up of HURRICANE#1 in 2000 could not diminish; a moment in British music which saw Andy subsequently joining Oasis and Alex setting out on a potent solo career as an acoustic artist.
The terrible news that he had cancer with a poor outlook stopped Alex in his tracks, well, for a moment as the gladiator within returned with gusto and accompanied by the guidance of Alan McGee, he reformed Hurricane #1 with a new line up and hungrily going on to release a clutch of albums and touring the UK.
It was a period seeing numerous personnel changes, Alex in reflection joking that he felt like Mark E Smith from The Fall at times. It was also the time of a keenly fresh breath and imagination to the band’s songwriting and music, though health issues for Alex still stalked him. Receiving the all-clear from cancer in 2018 was followed by renal failure from which he nearly died, his cancer treatment destroying the one kidney it was found he had been born with.
Alex entered into dialysis in November 2022, but of course, the fighter remains, and the band are poised to send another spark through the music scene with their new album, ‘Can’t Get There From Here’, its release scheduled for April 2024. The band had recent radio success with their singles Autopilot Man, The Reason and Shine on Mr Harvey.
Band members:
Alex Lowe guitar vocals,
Ricky Rapa, lead guitar,
Chris Smiles, bass guitar,
Chris Campbell drums
All members are from Perthshire, Scotland
Musical influences:
Alex Lowe: The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys.
Ricky Rapa: The Who, The Jam, REM, The Beatles.
Chris Campbell: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who.
Chris Smiles: The Jam, Selector, Madness, The Beatles, The Jam.
In their own words:
We are all misfits playing to a lot of other misfits who don’t know they are misfits, until they hear us play.
About the song:
Alex Lowe and Ricky Rapa wrote the song after watching Brian Wilson do his Pet Sounds show in San Francisco.
