The great thing about Deaf FM isn't that Fa, the leader and songwriter Francis Caudwell, is rock nyc writer Cathy Dupuis' nephew, or even that this old fashioned, hard rocking 80s style guitar and synth band hail from one of the great music cities, Manchester, England. The great thing about Deaf FM is they have a superb lead singer in Cherry Valentine who sounds like Pauline Murray meets Adele -by which I mean she can rock both ends of the spectrum, the swing of youth energy and the soul of burning love, and most things inbetween.
Caudwell put together the band in early 2012 and they have been gigging in Manchester ever since, finally reaching the current state of affairs with an EP, the wonderfully named Crashed Cars and Superstars for local indie label Diffusion Records, about to be released, which they are touring behind this May (though I've got a feeling New York isn't in the cards).
The first single off the EP "Hate me" starts with the crunch of early Marilyn Manson but morphs into a more mainstream early Paramore like power riffs. The melody is strong the synths play off like special effects and the song sludges before spinning out. Translation: Deaf FM wouldn't mind a hit, and they may get one as well.
Riffs appears to be where it's at, at least at this stage, for Deaf FM. The hard dark riffs of "Hate Me", according to the band, is more their style than the gorgeous progressions of the acoustic set I am also including here. My bet is that there is a place where the two will meet up.Certainly there is little point in having a singer as good as Cherry if you aren't gonna exploit her abilities for all they are worth.
Anyway, three songs in and they are all aces and sure Cathy writing for us brought the band to my attention (actually, her big sister did), and even if she hadn't, the Caudwells are old friends of mine so I would have been wised up sooner rather than later (Fa's Grandparents were two of the sweetest people I've met in my life). I still wouldn't lie and I love Deaf FM for no better reason than because they play tight, the songs are strong and they have a singer to sell em. Everything else is a little irrelevant. One piece of advise? Can the "a' in the band name…