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Rock'n'Roll High School

We played a charity show at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff this weekend, so decided as we'd played here recently that we'd do a Ramones themed set.

We didn't have time to get together as many songs as we'd hoped originally, so unfortunately some of your favourites will probably be missing! But this is what we played:

Rock'n'Roll High School
That Boy Is Mine (new School song that sounds a bit Ramonesy)
Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (School style)
Judy is a Punk
Let's Dance
Hoping and Praying (Ramones style)
Rock'n'Roll Radio
Blitzkrieg Bop
All I Wanna Do (Ramones style)
Baby, I Love You (School/Ramones style)

Liz's DJ Setlist from How Does It Feel To Be Loved?

Liz was guest DJ at How Does It Feel To Be Loved? in London and this is what she played.. x

Veronica Falls - Beachy Head
Vivian Girls - John, I'm Only Dancing
Donna Lynn - I'd Much Rather Be With The Girls
Saint Etienne - Who Do You Think You Are?
The Vaselines - Molly's Lips
Eux Autres - The Deadball Era
The Gentle Waves - Weathershow
Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve
Magnetic Fields - Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy
The Supremes - When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes
Lulu - I'll Come Running
Dexy's Midnight Runners - Let's Make This Precious
The Nazz - Open My Eyes
The Sonics - Witch
April March - Chick Habit
The Tammy's - Egyptian Shumba
The Rev-Lons - After Last Night
Allo, Darlin' - Dreaming
Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man
The Supremes - Baby Love
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - Let's Hang On
Spencer Davis Group - Gimme Some Lovin'
Hefner - Hymn for the Cigarettes
Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill
Cinderella - Baby Baby (I Still Love You)
The Flirtations - Nothing But A Heartache
The Zombies - Friends of Mine
The Pipettes - Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me
Dusty Springfield - I Only Want to be With You
The Supremes - You Can't Hurry Love
The Crystals - Da Doo Ron
Belle and Sebastian - Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie
Velocette - Get Yourself Together (French version)

Pretty in Pink (limited edition vinyl..)

Yesterday was a very happy day for us, we just discovered that MOLLY RINGWALD is somehow a fan of The School!

The actress from Breakfast Club / Pretty In Pink / Sixteen Candles (and more recently US TV show The Secret Life of An American Teenager) featured 'All I Wanna Do' in her top 15 Celebrity Tunes.

"This song just makes me feel happy. It's very young. You just want to hold hands with someone while you listen to it."

You can read more here..

Loveless Unbeliever Reiviews

"On their debut album, Loveless Unbeliever, the School prove that they have fully absorbed the lessons of the classic girl groups and Brill Building songwriters, and deliver an album full of instantly memorable songs that plays like a greatest-hits collection. The group, led by singer and songwriter Liz Hunt, went through a lot of members on the way to finishing the album, but the final product is tightly focused and note perfect (much of the thanks for which should go to producer Ian Catt). All four songs from the 2008 Let It Slip EP and both songs from their 2008 single ("All I Wanna Do"/"Valentine") feature on the album, plus seven new songs. Having all the previously released songs here may appear at first glance to be kind of a cheat, like the band didn’t have enough good songs to fill the necessary space. However, when you consider that the EP and single are relatively hard to track down, and that the group wanted the album to have one great song after another, their presence makes sense. Besides, hearing them all in one place helps drive home just how potent the group’s distillation of Motown, girl group, and indie pop really is. Though they are all near-perfect pop songs, the clear winner among them is "Let It Slip," with its swooping strings, peppy backing vocals, and a heartbreaking vocal from Hunt. Her vocals are sweet as pie but they also have enough depth to provide some emotional punch. She could easily have been a Shangri-La. The guys and girls in the band also show that they have what it takes to make great pop music, never playing two notes where one will do, and showing both a light touch and plenty of energy when required. The one fear that goes with an album made up of songs that are already released and well-loved is that the newer songs may not measure up. No fear of that here. From the bopping “Is He Really Coming Home?” and the '50s-style sweetheart jam “Hoping and Praying,” to the hushed ballad “I’d Do Anything,” there is no shortage of memorable melodies and hooks. Taken together the album lives up to the band’s ambition and provides the listener with an experience roughly akin to riding a roller coaster that’s all thrilling drops, no uphill climbs. There are a fair amount of bands mining the same girl group-influenced gold in 2010, Loveless Unbeliever shows that the School are the truly the best."
4.5 /5 - ALLMUSIC

"Well blow me down if Loveless Unbeliever didn’t have me shamelessly shimmying round the office like a pissed accounts clerk at the works Christmas do. Hang on – that was me 10 years ago! The Cardiff collective’s first long-player emits such dazzling pop rays that even a confirmed uniped like myself felt compelled to unwisely re-enact both his mod teens and his indie-saturated mid-20s via the medium of “dance” with little regard for himself or others.

It’s that word “indie” that looms largest here – not least in the band’s own promo materials. It’s the indie of yore; the indie of Belle & Sebastian, St Etienne and Sarah Records, where ’60s fashion met romantic poetry and outsider art to an optimistic soundtrack of 7” singles dominated by fey female vocalists cooing over jangly guitars and synth strings.

The School’s debt to Spector’s girl groups – both musically and sonically – is occasionally a little too studied but it’s the way that nine or 10 tracks into this compact 37-minute gem you’re still stunned by the appearance of yet another smash hit single that will keep you coming back for more."
SHINDIG! MAGAZINE

"I'd like to state that The School's debut album Loveless Unbeliever is my favourite Welsh pop album of all time"
Adam Walton, BBC Radio Wales

"As the summer rolls in, I find myself being confronted with more and more releases toting themselves as the anthem for this year’s brief spell of ultraviolet exposure. Today, I pass judgement upon The School’s “Loveless Unbeliever.”

It took me some time to get my thoughts together regarding this album, half because it is thirteen tracks, each with bliss stamped into its makeup, and half because I thought I had fallen back in time to the 70s again, pesky wormhole.

The album cover is a lovely faded pink giving a sense of age but lasting sentiment and love, or for the unromantic, leave a photo in the sun for a day or so, you get the same effect. The songs contained within are just as beautiful. “Let it Slip” is a bit of a wake up slap to begin with, starting everything at a sprinting pace before easing you into gentle early Beatles feel, energetic yet undeniably lovely.

The angelic and almost child-like voices that accompany each track are fuelled by innocence yet lack any comparison within the mainstream industry making them unique and as refreshing as lemonade in the summer sun. On the whole, the album is gentle yet confident, heavenly yet relatable, innocent yet somehow sexy like an unobtainable dream.

My favourite track is, without a doubt, “I Want You Back.” Its heartfelt plea is disguised by a bouncy rhythm, a catchy chorus and a cheery demeanour matched only by the mood the album left me in. “Can’t Understand” came in a close second with its trademark ba ba’s, akin to a female Beach Boys with “Barbara Ann”, a song which is, scarily, almost 45 years old now.

Those who don’t like this album, if such a thing is possible, might tell the band to shove it where the sun don’t shine. That will prove difficult given how iridescent joy radiates out of everything this band is and has to offer us over the shiny months to come."
Retro's Grade: 1st" - UWIC Retro Newspaper

"So why deny it? The School wear their Camera Obscura influence on their sleeves (and indeed acknowledge the debt on their webpage). What we also shouldn’t deny is that The School are in many ways better than Camera Obscura. Fresher. More dynamic. In a word: lovelier. Camera Obscura paved the way; The School take what they started to new heights.

To listen to Loveless Unbeliever is to be taken back to an era of poodle skirts and girls crying about their baby who may love them, may love them not. The back-up singers go “whoa whoa whoa” all the way home. But what sets The School apart is that this isn’t just an album of nostalgia, or a throwback to a bygone style. The music sounds as new and as relevant today, even as it maintains its decidedly retro feel. Compare this to the styrofoam sound of She & Him’s Volume Two: the M. Ward/Zoe Deschanel combo now has a mass produced commercialized feel (especially now that Deschanel is a shill for the touch and feel of cotton). Their act has become stale. By contrast, The School sound like a band making music for the fun of it, not caring especially what people think of them, and finding that they really can make great music—surprising perhaps even themselves.

There’s a story of sorts on this album, mostly that of a woman wondering what her man is thinking, and what he might do. If he leaves her, will he go straight to that other woman (“Let It Slip”)? Will he ever be her true love (“Valentine”)? Will he eventually come back to her (“I Want You Back”)? There is doubt, wonder, and hope—the songs pluck at the universal themes of love and loss, and they do so in with hooks that make them instantly memorable. The School manage to make their songs sound both familiar and wonderfully fresh at the same time.

The story told by Loveless Unbeliever appears to end badly. The last song is called “I Don’t Believe In Love,” and is the only song featuring a male vocal. After hearing the fretting and worrying of the girl through twelve tracks, we finally get the guy’s point of view. Yet the female vocals eventually come in, and the two voices are joined. Have they come together, this time forever? There may be an answer somewhere buried in that last song—but I prefer to leave it ambiguous. The worries always return; there are no guarantees that their love will endure, or that it will put an end to all uncertainty. The cynical response to this set of facts would be to become a loveless unbeliever. But as we circle back to the first song of the album for yet another listen, we know that this is not really an option either. That we must always fall in love over and over again, sometimes with the same person—just as we must always, at some point or another, come to doubt those feelings.

What’s amazing about this album is how The School manage to sing about such well worn themes in a way that makes them seem like a discovery. They make music that is at once timeless and new. This is an album to fall in love with."
In Your Speakers

"Some things in life are worth the wait, "Loveless unbeliever", the debut album by Cardiff based fine purveyors of indiepop, The School is most certainly one of those things. "Loveless unbeliever" will bring a wide smile to any music fan remotely interested in indiepop or the Sixties girl group sound, all the hallmarks are present, production by the indiepop maestro Ian Catt (think The Field Mice or Saint Etienne, possibly bypassing The Tweenies for a moment), harmonies, handclaps, strings, it's all here. Frontwoman Liz Hunt has one of those voices that such fans will just crave for and can never get enough of.

The album kicks in with the full throttle of last year's single Let it slip, more guitar based than most of their tracks but, it's perfect pop, think Heavenly with lovely Shirelles shoop shoop harmonies and handclapping, it has that vibe. Long standing fans of the band will know a fair number of tracks on the album but the new tracks really show how the band have developed in the last year, Is he really coming home, is sensational, the opening aching mood of the beating drums breaks into beautiful layers of twangy guitar, strings and the addition of the brass really completes the band's sound. This track is everything I dreamed the band could produce, it's hard not to go back and have another listen or two. Another oldie, I want you back deserves it's place as an album, it was always way too strong for a B-side, the strings are perfect, you could dance to this track in any soul club. The new tracks really do show how much writing talent the band possess. Is it true? has a choppy Supremes "Baby love" feel to it. I love everything is the real surprise, an acoustic ballad, it's like an "I I fell", "I'll follow the sun" Beatles ballad with a subtle George Harrisson guitar solo, the chord changes are really pleasent too. Can't understand is a real highlight, it's fast and furious, another dancefloor filler, the beat, the harmonies and the brass totally take you over. We go a bit Shangri-las for a while, The one who left me has that clasic Mary Weiss, Shadow Morton reminisce, Liz turns up the emotion here, it is top draw. Hoping and praying should be played on every radio station, every day, it is 100% perfect pop, castanets, brass, swaying harmonies and a Hank Marvin style guitar solo for good measure, one word, fantastic. I've been waiting several years for a studio recording of Summer's here and boy it doesn't disappoint, the bouncy keys and choppy guitar is bolstered by lovely percusiion and brass, the way Liz sings the chorus is heartbreaking, I'm so happy with the way it's been recorded and produced. The album closes with I don't believe in love, when I first heard it as a B-side it passed me by a bit but I was wrong, it is the perfect album closer, the duet between Rob (Voluntary Butler Scheme) and Liz packs total emotion, it has much more depth than initially meets the ear, much more.

"Loveless unbeliever" is something very special, an album of pure pop Sixties tinged indiepop released in 2010. We are lucky to have this band, such bands are too few and far between and this album will quickly remind anyone why"
Team Stevie

"This could well be one of the best records you'll hear this year"
Burning World

"Loveless Unbeliever, The School's first full-length album is truly lovely stuff, sparkling and clear and fraught with girl group drama, cut with a modern woman's edge.. She will find romance on her own disastrous terms – obsessing over the wrong boys, ignoring obvious matches, and documenting her failures and heartaches for all to hear in lush, sweeping soundscapes"
Greetings to the New Brunette

"So, loveless unbelievers then; if you ask us they’re taking over the world and that, my friends, is not good news. Just look around, you know who they are. I’m just glad that you’re not one of them. I mean, seriously, you have to wonder at what’s happened to the world when the term ‘girl group’ conjures up images of a scouser in a tracksuit and a frump with her knockers exploding from the feeble embrace of a union flag.Don’cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Well, not really love no. Thankfully Cardiff’s fashionably unfashionable The School, fronted by archetypal doe eyed girl-next-door Liz Hunt, are here to turn back the clock and show the nasty girls how it should be done.

The world of The School is uncomplicated and universal: boy meets girl, boy cheats on girl and girl writes a song about it. There’s no bling, nor ‘urban’ beats, not even a whiff of hard drugs on show here and the whole experience just oozes fifties hope and style. Musically it is Motown via Mari Wilson and the songs, resplendent with obligatory handclaps, were made to be sung in schoolyards by girls in polka dot dresses and dayglo bobbysox. Sociologically, it’s more Una Stubbs in Summer Holiday than Olivia in Grease; psychologically it’s Leader of The Pack on spacehoppers, and that, in our book at least, is all to the good.

For those familiar with The School, Loveless Unbeliever rounds up the tracks from the band’s hard to find earlier singles and pairs them off with a new study buddy, each as giddy and thrilling as their predecessor. Opening track ‘Let it Slip’ sets the scene as Liz, sugar sweet but deadly, coaxes her unfaithful lover to spill the beans (C’mon, c’mon ... ooh boy tell me) she smoulders to devastating effect. With one paramour left in a quivering wreck she’s quickly on the hunt for another fresh faced young lad, warning him off a rival who’ll never let him be her ‘Valentine’. Pretty soon though he’s scarpered only to be lamented as ‘The One Who Left Me,’ and it falls to the ‘Please Mr Postman’ stylings of ‘Hoping and Praying’ to make the sun shine again.

It takes a hard heart to resist the charms of The School, and when Liz asks to borrow a place on your shoulder because she can’t keep up her head with just two it’s one of the most sweetly sensual moments of the year. Let’s keep this simple though, if you’ve ever been in love or made daisy chains in the park on a hazy day then this is for you. Buy early for next term, School's most definitely in for summer."
THE MUSIC FIX

Is He Really Coming Home? - New Video/Single

Watch the video for our new single 'Is He Really Coming Home?' here.

Out at the end of May 2010 on Elefant Records, directed by Tom Readdy, taken from our debut album 'Loveless Unbeliever'.

hope you enjoy! x

How to buy our album
Our debut album is here! Sorry for the delay.

'Loveless Unbeliever' will be available to buy on CD, download & limited edition red vinyl from:

- us on our UK tour in March

- Elefant Records / Spain / Korea / Mexico / Canada / USA in April

- UK / everywhere else from May

To read more about the album you can visit the Elefant website

TRACKLISTING

1. Let It Slip
2. Is He Really Coming Home?
3. Valentine
4. I Want You Back
5. Is It True?
6. I Love Everything
7. Can't Understand
8. The One Who Left Me
9. Hoping and Praying
10. Summer's Here
11. Shoulder
12. All I Wanna Do
13. I Don't Believe in Love

Tour Dates!
Here are our tour dates! x

Sat 6th March - CARDIFF Clwb Ifor Bach album launch
with Allo, Darlin' / Pagan Wanderer Lu & The Bubblegum Killers DJs
The School presents.. album launch.. followed by The Vinyl Vendettas
7.30pm 18+
£5 adv from TicketWeb / Spillers / Diverse
Clwb Ifor Bach, 11 Womanby Street, Cardiff CF10 1BR

Thurs 11th March - SHEFFIELD The Stockroom
with Allo, Darlin', The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut, The 10p Mixes
Invisible Guitar Solo presents..
£5 adv from WeGotTickets / £6 doors
The Stockroom, Leadmill Road, Sheffield S1 4SE

Fri 12th March - EDINBURGH Wee Red Bar
with Allo, Darlin' / Django Django
Fresh Air presents..
£4 entry
Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9DF

Sat 13th March - GLASGOW The Flying Duck
with Allo, Darlin' / The Social Services
Half My Heart Beats presents.. followed by an indiepop disco
7.30pm 18+
£6 adv from WeGotTickets
The Flying Duck, 142 Renfield Street, Glasgow, G2 3AU

Sun 14th March - ABERDEEN The Tunnels
with Allo, Darlin' / Deportees
AGP presents..
7.30pm 14+
£5 adv from TicketWeb
The Tunnels, Carnegies Brae, Aberdeen AB10 1BF

Mon 15th March - NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE Head of Steam
with Allo, Darlin' / Brilliant Mind / Mansfield Holiday
8.00pm 18+
£5 adv from TicketWeb

Tues 16th March - LEICESTER Firebug
with Poppy and Friends & support
Twesta presents..
8.00pm 18+
£4 adv from WeGotTickets / £5 doors
Firebug, 1 Millstone Lane, Leicester, LE1 5JN

Fri 19th March - CHESTER Telford's Warehouse
Adam Walton presents..
18+
free entry before 9pm, £4 after 9pm.
Telford's Warehouse, Canal Basin, Tower Wharf, Chester, CH1 4EZ

Sat 20th March - BIRMINGHAM The Victoria
with Pagan Wanderer Lu & support
The Autumn Store presents.. followed by an indiepop disco
8pm 18+
£tba
The Victoria, 48 John Bright St, Birmingham, B1 1BN

Sat 27th March - LONDON Bush Hall
with Allo, Darlin' / Pagan Wanderer Lu
7.30pm £7 adv / £8 doors on sale shortly
Bush Hall, 310 Uxbridge Road, London W12 7LJ

Sun 28th March - BRIGHTON The Prince Albert
with Foxes! & support
Put It On presents..
8.00pm 18+
£5 adv from WeGotTickets / £6 doors
The Prince Albert, 48 Trafalgar Street, Brighton BN1 4ED

Wed 31st March - CHELMSFORD The Basement
Bitterscene presents..
8pm 18+
£tba
The Basement, 16 Wells Street, Chelmsford Essex CM1 1HZ