Universal You

Who we are (Journalistically interesting version):

Gulzhan is from Kazakhstan. She was a translator in an oil company. She now lives in Scotland and write songs, perform songs and makes cute babies.

The other half of UniYou is Mark and he is from Scotland, 23 years old and the most phenomenal guitarist you will ever see. He also looks pretty cool too. But don't believe the hype. Go to a gig and see for yourself.

The band used to be called Kinky Durakee but she hated it as it made her sound like some seedy Thai bride/sex worker. So they changed it. She chose the new name.

Universal You is a song by The Cult, but Universal You dont play like The Cult.

Musical influences are diverse and they can’t talk about them when in a room together or the band will split up. Shinedown, Michael Jackson, Guns N Roses, Apocalyptica, Amy Winehouse, The RHCP’s, Children of Bodom, Sheryl Crow and Paulo Nutini.

Gulzhan has very bad eyesight and is -20 in both eyes. She can be classed as disabled but she will not accept it. Specsavers are close friends.

She has a personal trainer. It’s a bingo wings fear thing.

She speaks Russian, not Kazakh. Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union and she found the Borat movie amusing but doesn’t drink horse urine.

Her voice has been described as "Madonna with balls". To be clear, it’s her voice.

In their last band in Kazakhstan they played a free concert and 12,000 people turned up. It’s true, they have the photos. It’s a lot tougher to pull that crowd in Scotland.

Universal You is based in Kirkcaldy..pretty musically unfashionable huh?! …well, Guy Berryman of Coldplay was born in Kirkcaldy as was Craig Logan, ex of 80's boy band Bros, former manager of Pink and now head of Sony BMG in the UK. We are not totally sure, but we don’t think another local lad and our Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ever played guitar in a rock band.

Everyone is always surprised she is the singer. At one gig the sound engineer tried to kick her off the stage saying "girlfriends aren’t allowed up here".

"Your Sin City" was written in a hotel in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. You have to go there to understand.

She used to earn $30 a month as an English teacher in University in Kazakhstan. Her parents thought it was a good profession. She decided working for an oil company in an oil field, wearing jeans, drinking beer with the boys after work and earning 20 times more money was a better profession.

She has failed her driving test six times and still doesn’t drive. She is deeply embarrassed.

Their last full page feature in The Scotsman newspaper described her as "the diminutive singer with the big voice". She also likes a recent article which mentioned "exotic good looks".

Gulzhans voice has been compared to Madonna, Stevie Nicks, Isobel Campbell, Sharleen Spiteri, Shirley Manson, PJ Harvey and a few others. The most interesting was “John Mayers lovechild”.

Gulzhan doesn’t know what pick-ups or machine heads are but has her own microphone and earplugs.

Universal You open their live set with an instrumental track called “Jump”. It’s been described as having “all the excitement of a Bond car chase”.

She was heavily pregnant when recording their demo album. There was a lot of toilet breaks and non-rock‘n’roll clothing.

She has an obsession with Heat Magazine. It comes out every Tuesday. She buys it religiously, she has had enough of Leo Tolstoi novels.

www.universalyou.co.uk
www.myspace.com/universalyouband

For Further information contact:
info@universalyou.co.uk

Who we are (Typical cliche ridden version):

Band Biog - Version 1

Rising from the remains of the now defunct Edinburgh band Kinky Durakee, lead singer Gulzhan and guitarist Mark are the core of new outfit Universal You.

Taking their name from a song by rockers The Cult, Universal You set out to move away from the softer tones often created by the aforementioned Durakees and into harder edged anthemic territories to meld pop melodies and frisky funk into their own brand of beautiful rock and pop songs.

The new 2-piece line-up is also sprinkled with electronica.

Deciding to focus on gigs in the short term before re-entering the studio in the autumn, Universal You aim to build on their fanbase with live shows allowing old and new songs a chance to find their feet in their new organic surroundings.

First single “Your Sin City” has been reworked since its original demo version recording and will be released in November through their own label Joesoap Records with a fanfare created by PR gurus Quite Great.

“Its exciting to have this new environment to play some of our old songs and to see what the line-up brings to the table” says Gulzhan

“I will always dress to impress at our gigs. Glam is good, and we aim to look as good as we sound!!” says Gulzhan on the imminent gigging schedule

“…massive potential…frontwoman Gulzhan is in possession of a t