The 14th BIG STIR DIGITAL SINGLE arrives direct from Anytown, USA, steeped in the working-class passion of JOE NORMAL & THE ANYTOWN'RS. The Jersey-born and LA-based Normal and his thoroughly ace band have been tearing up stages throughout California and overseas, capturing hearts and ears while laying down tracks to get their music to the masses. "Don't Hurt Me" b/w "Anytown" arrive Friday, January 25, available for pre-order now, and are damned well ready for the radio!

Who is Mr. Normal? Rising out of the factories of Elizabeth, New Jersey and arriving in the alleyways of East Los Angeles, singer-songwriter Joe formed his explosive band THE ANYTOWN'RS with bassist TONY BABYLON, drummer TONY SNOW, and ace guitarist MICHAEL "LUCKY" LOCKWOOD (of LIONS & GHOSTS fame). East & West Coast attitude and finesse combine with potent doses of power and pop to create a working class sound and style that are unifying music lovers in every pub, community, and concert venue they play from the Garden to the Golden State... and ANYTOWN where common people crave authentic rock and roll.

The band blends the melodic sensibilities and brilliance of classic British pop, the roots and urgency of early American Rock and Roll, with the heart and insight of a singer-songwriter. The songs have won comparisons with the gritty honesty of The Replacements, The Who, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and even Sir Paul McCartney in his most rocking moments. Live shows are a bonding experience between band and audience as Joe spins his stories and strives to make a personal connection with fans in venues of any size. Simply put, the man owns it and it's impossible not to be swept up in his passionate delivery.

The Anytown'rs' collective resume includes live and studio work with the likes of Dramarama, Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, Izzy Stradlin and punk icons like Stiv Bators and Sylvain Sylvain. But they're very much in the moment and a band to watch. These tunes are as good a place as any to catch the buzz!

Expected release: January 25, 2019

The Lucky 13th BIG STIR DIGITAL SINGLE belongs to Big Stir Britannia's leading lights and one of our favo(u)rite bands anywhere, the one and only SPYGENIUS of Canterbury, England! Sporting brand new and characteristically brilliant cover art from their enigmatic visual collaborator CHAMPNISS OF LONDON, "If You Go A-Roving" b/w "Let Me In" will see release Friday, 19 January and is available now for preorder!

Shortly after unleashing their acclaimed fourth album ‘Pacéphale to an unsuspecting world, SPYGENIUS (Peter, Ruth, Alan and Matt, as ever) retired to their musical shed somewhere in the south east of England to begin work on the follow up, given the intriguing provisional title of ‘Spygenius Album #5’. These two tracks come from those still ongoing sessions. The A side – "If You Go A-Roving" – explores what happens if you stick a melody loosely influenced by English folk music on top of a jangle pop backing (and features on the latest International Pop Overthrow compilation). The B side – "Let Me In" – is a monster themed bit of funky old nonsense that the Spygeniants knocked together for Christina and Rex’s Hallowen Specials on their recently concluded radio programme, but hasn’t seen a formal release before. It was supposed to sound like the Hoodoo Gurus, but it doesn’t, really.

Definitely at the ‘and more’ end of the ‘power pop and more’ spectrum, Spygenius formed in the mid-2000s with the aim of writing, recording and performing original songs for as long as they could get away with it. Classic melodic pop is their baseline, but they are known for their cheeky eclecticism and will often embellish or deviate from their basic live line-up of guitar, bass, drums, keys and four vocals in their recordings. So, catchy tunes, lyrics to listen to, lush harmonies - think Beatles 66-68, think Byrds, think Buffalo Springfield and Bonzo Dog Band – but just as much think Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Robyn Hitchcock, Rain Parade, early R.E.M., and XTC (shhh, don’t tell Ruth!). Then stop thinking that and listen to the tracks instead.

As well as regular gigging around the UK, they are veterans of the International Pop Overthrow festivals - in Liverpool, London and occasionally Los Angeles – and for the last couple of years have taken a central role in organising the BIG STIR BRITANNIA events in Croydon the U.K. Spygenius Album #5 is slated for release later in 2019, on Big Stir Records – and in the meantime all four previous releases can be found on the Big Stir Records website alongside the new single.

For the twelfth BIG STIR DIGITAL SINGLE, we are delighted to help THE NEWDS (of Bolton, England) celebrate their 20th year as a band and herald the impending release of their new album with "Through the Dark Side" b/w "Drawing a Line"! The single will be released Friday, January 11, and is available for preorder now.

THE NEWDS are best known to the American pop crowd as perrennial highlights of the Liverpool Edition of the International Pop Overthrow Festival, with one of the most engaging frontmen around, PAUL MEAGHER. Their sound is rooted in Merseybeat, informed by a love of Love, and steeped in the tradition of spiky British rock as purveyed by the likes of The Kinks, The Jam, and Graham Parker. But their tale goes back farther than that.

Originally formed at Art College in 1999 by Meagher & Dean Woods with "very much an art school band ethic", the band has passed through various lineups before landing on the current three guitar lineup, with Meagher, Woods, and Paul Crompton joined by Daniel Garthwright on drums, Tony Sabanskis on keys, and Kieran Schofield on bass. That's the version that's making their twentieth year their busiest yet, completing the forthcoming album Drawing a Line, embarking on a series of gigs revisiting old haunts, and even hoping to have a second, more acoustic-based album on the shelves before the year's end.

Both sides of the single are drawn from the Drawing a Line sessions, described as "experimental" but song- and melody based and produced with some consultation with LA's Mike Randle (of Baby Lemonade / Love Revisited renown). "Through the Dark Side" appears here for the first time; the forthcoming album's bracingly self-effacing title track previously graced an IPO compilation and gets to shine on its own here as the B-side.

UK rock journalist Austin Collings sums up the band's appeal: "It’s as if THE NEWDS have stumbled across a musical jumble sale and they’ve picked up the threads of melody dropped off by the obvious greats like Harry Nilsson, Simon & Garfunkel, Lennon and Heather Mills’ ex-husband and the other one who funded Withnail & I... But still this doesn’t quite get to the heart of the matter, the simple joy and point of who they are and what they’re trying to do. It comes down to personal courage, and Paul and co. have it in spades.Their music is like finding a twenty quid note on the street when you’re completely borassic, or hearing the laugh of the girl you’re in love with, or having a lie-in when you should be at work or school; small pleasures all, but small pleasures that define most of our lives."

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