LEVELLOAD

A combination of sloganeering vocals, barely controlled guitar and electronics pushed to the point of meltdown, Levelload are unashamedly pop yet hit harder than a horseshoe in a boxing glove.
A boy and a girl collide one night under Tokyo’s neon sky. They stay up for hours listening to The Pretenders. Boy plays the guitar, so girl dusts off her bass and after a few riffs, suddenly, it all just makes perfect sense. A few weeks, a bunch of cool, tough-as-fuck songs and one long plane journey later, and they’re ready to take on London…

There the screaming banshee/three-chord lightning-bolt duo were picked up on straight away by John Peel, who featured their first song 'Palookaville' on his show and gave it a rare 3-star rating.

Mariko is an invigorating, sexy singer who cares nothing for traditional male roles of rock & roll, while guitarist Tony takes an unusual approach to create a sound filled chock full of ear catching melodies.

They take an equal approach to writing (hence Levelload as in evenly loaded or balanced) and have always admired the concise, classic writing of artists such as the Pretenders.

One track from the initial sessions ‘HND In RNR’ – a slice of punky yet catchy, classic pop featured on the soundtrack to ‘Dirty Sanchez The Movie’ that earned radio play and a Coca-Cola-produced video, was then picked up by Japanese super-label Avex to be re-recorded and released by its J-pop artist Itsco as ‘Seki-Lalala’, showing the versatility of Levelload’s writing.

Successful tours in Germany and Japan that followed saw them spread their boundaries still further, and the band were signed by new Japanese label Flightpath Records towards the end of 2007. Their debut album, ‘Yellow Fever’, was released in Japan on 6 Feb 2008.

With two appearances on Japanese TV-one on Fuji TV’s Factory Live alongside Cornelius, the other on Elvis wanted (also Fuji TV), videos for the tracks ‘HND In RNR’ and ‘I Know You Know’ being aired on national music channel Space Shower TV, and a storming set at Duran Duran’s after-show party in Tokyo they look set to conquer Mariko’s homeland.

What the UK press is saying:

“This Tokyo/London two-piece sound like they’ve listened to Bis, ate loads of sweets and formed a band mere seconds later” – NME

“A recent favourite of mine” – Thomas Ravenscroft, The Times

“They definitely rock” – Artrocker

“What a first single ‘HND In RNR’ is; as if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were a great undiscovered Phil Spector girl-group” – Drowned In Sound

“Jump up and down ’til your ankles give way catchy” – Maps magazine

“Uber-cool punk poppers Levelload set a high precedent” – Hotpress

“Strikes back to the spirit of ’70s first-wavers of the likes of Wire and Siouxsie And The Banshees” – Connected