The Ugly Guys are Making Tracks With a Brand New Album.
UK: 11th August 2023.
Southend-based, UK Country quintet & purveyors of Cosmic Americana Music, The Ugly Guys are to release their Brand new album ‘ Cover Your Tracks’ on 25th August 2023 on Conquest Music.
They teased us with their three track, EP, ‘Rolling in the Deep’ in June as a taster to their album, with the lead track being a skilful country-tinged cover of Adele’s international chart-topper. It has received strong support at radio, and has whet the appetite nicely for the full set of songs.
Cover Your Tracks brings us 15 great songs that have been given the special country blues reinterpretation by The Ugly Guys.
Writers as diverse as Bee Gees, Chuck Berry, John Hiatt & Mickey Jupp have been given the Ugly Guys treatment, resulting in a delightful collection of brilliant songs presented complete with Pedal Steel Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo and Paul Shuttleworth’s distinctive vocals.
The tracks were initially recorded as a means of keeping sane during the desolate months of the Covid-19 lockdown. From a selection of the band’s favourite songs, each musician recorded their performance from home. Studio wizard and multi-instrumentalist, Steve Oliver would pull the recordings together and post them on YouTube, for no reason but so the band and friends could enjoy the covers.
As life returned to some type of normal after the pandemic, The Ugly Guys realised they had a great collection of tracks. Independent label, Conquest Music also spotted this and persuaded the band to record a few more songs and turn it into an album, Cover Your Tracks.
Cover Your Tracks contains heartfelt reinterpretations of classic tracks and forgotten gems:
- Ugly Guys
- Rolling In The Deep
- Drive South
- One More Shot
- She Made Me Lose My Blues
- Bluer Words Were Never Spoken
- Don’t Let The Old Man In
- Standing At The Crossroads Again
- A Picture of You
- Me and My Uncle
- Don’t Ever Change
- Old Five and Dimers
- Cash On The Barrelhead
- Johnny B Goode
- Keep Me In Your Heart
The founder members of The Ugly Guys — Paul Shuttleworth and Vic Collins — have been making music together since 1969, when they founded one of England’s first country rock bands Cow Pie. Paul and Vic went on to form The Kursaal Flyers in 1972 and were an integral part of the ‘Pub Rock’ scene that was flourishing in the UK at that time. The Kursaals were one of the few bands to break out of the pub rock scene when in 1977 they enjoyed a hit single with their Phil Spectoresque pastiche ‘Little Does She Know’.
Fast forward to 2003, when a chance meeting led Paul and Vic to explore the prospect of forming a new band to play the cosmic country music they both loved. A call to guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Steve Oliver quickly formed the nucleus of the new band, which they named The Ugly Guys, taking the moniker from a much-loved Kursaal Flyers song.
The haunting video for Rolling In The Deep is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKfIF_mhLHU
To celebrate the release of Cover Your Tracks, The Ugly Guys are hitting the road for the first time in three years.
24/08/2023 Ain’t Nothin But The Blues, London
29/08/2023 Music Den, Epping
03/09/2023 Chinnerys, Southend
05/09/2023 Hot Box, Chelmsford
08/10/2023 Boogaloo, Highgate
22/10/2023 Jenny Lynd, Hastings
More dates are being added as the band celebrate the album release and the chance to tread the boards after such a long time.
The Ugly Guys are:
Paul Shuttleworth – Lead Vocals, Steve Oliver – Guitars, Mandolin, Banjo Keyboards & Backing Vocals, Vic Collins, Pedal Steel, Guitars and Backing Vocals, Nevil Kiddier – Bass Guitar & Backing Vocals, Bob Clouter – Drums.
In the words of the song, The Ugly Guys play on and on and on…
You can pre-order Cover Your Tracks here:
https://slinky.to/CoverYourTracks
Websites: https://conquestmusic.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theuglyguys